Near Misses
by PAT THE KITSUNE
Summary: The sequal to Idle HandsAKA Random ZADRness. Can Zim and Membrane overcome their differences to work together to escape the wrath of the Irken Empire? Will Zim and Dib become good parents? And what's going on between Gaz and Tak? Perhaps a bit of romance?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: And so begins the second story of my trilogy, Near Misses. Hope I still have some readers from my first story, Idle HandsAKA Random ZADRness, and I hope to get plenty of new readers also. So enjoy the first chapter of my second story. Disclaimer-I own nothing except the plot. Don't sue me! 

The tears fell, more so than the rain that now poured down all around. Two tombstones stood next to each other, seemingly separated from the rows upon rows of other graves surrounding the area. The crowds had already dispersed, leaving only a choice few mourners at the location of the funeral. A young purple haired girl stood back, her gaze never leaving the sight of her brother kneeling in front of one of the tombstones. His face was hidden but she knew he was crying.

She could hear labored breathing and see the shaking of his form. She looked on in sorrow, but her facial expression betrayed no emotion. Now wasn't her time to cry. She had already done that twice in her life and she knew it was her time to move on. It was her brother's turn to break down, just this once, as she watched over him just as he had done so many times already in his life. So she stayed with him, even in the rain.

Even as the small child she held close began to whine and cry, she remained in her spot until her father approached to take possession of his first grandchild. The baby was bundled up in a mess of blankets, the little tuft of dark hair matted down by the rain save for two strands that seemed to stick out and wave about in the wind. The girl felt a hand rest upon her shoulder before she was handed an umbrella to keep her from getting any more wet. She knew she couldn't risk getting sick at this time as she traveled her hand back down to her stomach, heavy with child. She was already well into her sixth month of pregnancy and the last thing she wanted was to lose the child but she just couldn't pull herself away from her brother's side. She felt another hand rest on her shoulder then give a little squeeze. When she turned her head there stood another girl with shorter purple hair and violet eyes that shone with tears threatening to overflow.

Neatly tucked under one arm, she held the green puppy with tears of his own falling down his cheeks as he whimpered and cried for his master now dead. She moved in closer to wrap a comforting arm around the girl and just hold her tightly. She meant to lead the other inside but she wouldn't be moved. She knew they only stood before two memorials but the respect for them was just as powerful as they would have been had they been standing in front of the originals holding the bodies. The ground they stood upon had not been dug up. No shovel had penetrated the earth here. Just a reminder of those who had died and could not be buried here. Would not be buried here.

One old, another new. Shifting was heard as the small dog struggled to break free of the grip on him so he could wrap black paws tightly around the boy's sister to hide his face in her chest. Almost as if just noticing the presence of the two girls and dog behind him, the boy stood and turned toward them. His eyes were red and puffy and his cheeks tear stained but no more tears were falling. Even the tears that stung the corners of his eyes, he refused to let fall.

His movements were slow as he mad his way over to the two girls. He came to stand in front of his sister as he stared down into her eyes a moment, the eyes they shared, the eyes of their dead mother. They didn't need to say anything. In one quick moment, they were in each other's arms, arms that offered all the comfort they had. They pulled back slightly; the boy could feel his sister's stomach still slightly pressed against him. He let his eyes drop to her swollen gut, remembering what had led up to this point in time almost perfectly.

Every detail of the events over the course of time that had passed was still clear in his mind. It seemed like only yesterday it had all started. It had, in fact, only been a few months earlier. Who knew that in only a few months he could lose everything he held dear to him? His home, his family, but most of all, his lover. And yet he learned so many valuable life lessons he would never forget in that time. It seemed everything was going so perfect for them.

The day had begun as any other, perfectly normal. At least, as normal as things could be considered in the Membrane household in the past month. Gaz moaned and turned over to look at her alarm clock. 5:00. Growling, she pushed the bed sheets off her body and got up to head into the hallway. "Dib! This is the 5th time this week!" she snapped at her brother who stood outside the bathroom door with her arms crossed, waiting.

He glanced up at her as she approached. "It's not his fault, Gaz." he said calmly as another flush was heard from the bathroom. A few moments passed before the door finally opened and Zim stepped out. His skin was pale and covered in a fine sheen of sweat. His eyes drooped and he seemed to stare into nothing as his antennae hung limply at the sides of his head.

He was silent a moment before his antennae perked up a bit as his eyes shot wide open suddenly. "Oh, Irk!" He covered his mouth as he turned and ran back in the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. He proceeded to empty the contents of his stomach into the toilet before breaking out in a fit of coughs. Outside, Dib sighed harshly as he heard the toilet flushing again. It seemed the past couple of weeks Zim had been becoming increasingly ill.

He got sick often in the morning and sometimes the afternoon then he'd be fine for a few hours. He also seemed moodier than was normal for him in those days. Dib had noticed the change in Zim's behavior about a week ago and he was beginning to worry.

"Zim." Dib began.

"No." the Irken answered.

"Zim!" he tried again.

Zim slumped down in his seat more. "No!"

Dib slammed his hands down on the kitchen table. "Oh, come on, Zim!"

Zim did the same, standing to face Dib. "Damnit, Dib! I said no!" They stood glaring at each other a moment in the silent kitchen. They were having an early breakfast.

Dib may have loved the Irken but his patience was running thin for Zim's stubbornness. "Zim! What if it's something serious?! You know we can't take you to a real doctor but at least let my dad look you over! He may not be a doctor but he's the world's greatest scientist! I'm sure he can at least figure out how to do a simple physical examination! Please, Zim!"

Zim leaned in toward Dib, his eyes narrowing more. "I already told you, Dib! Your father knows nothing of the Irken anatomy and I don't intend to tell him anything about it! Besides! I don't trust him and I can see in his eyes that he doesn't trust me! I'm more than capable of taking care of myself!" he poked Dib's chest repeatedly as he said this.

Dib shot back. "Oh, yeah?! Then why haven't you taken care of it yet?! I thought your PAK was supposed to prevent you from getting sick! So why isn't it doing its job?!"

Zim backed up just a bit, growling. "I'm still working on fixing it. I'm not letting your father anywhere near me!"

"But Zim-" Dib began but his sister cut him off.

"Will the both of you just shut the hell up and eat already?! Your voices are getting annoying!" She sent them both death glares. They both plopped back down into their seats and remained quiet.

Dib slowly began to nibble on his food while Zim pushed his away. "I'm not hungry." He stood up to leave the room. "I'm going to work more on my ship." He had retrieved his ship a few weeks earlier with the help of Gir and moved it to the lab in the Membrane's summerhouse, which turned out to be much bigger than he originally thought. The damages on his ship were much worse than Dib had said. The repairs were taking weeks, not days.

And it took even longer using human technology. But he didn't mind that much. The longer it took, the more time he had to spend with Dib, which wasn't so bad as long as Dib wasn't nagging him about one thing or the other. He had grown very attached to the human boy over the past few weeks. They made love often enough, which also slowed down his repairs on the ship.

Zim usually had the upper hand in bed but every once in a while, Dib was able to top Zim when he snuck up on the Irken. And even on some rare occasions when Zim was feeling nice, he'd allow Dib complete control. But for the most part, he was the dominant one. The human was good but he much rather preferred hearing the human's screams of pleasure than his own. Something about the Dib's voice made him want to come in the boy's body. He heard the door to the lab opening from his spot under the ship, then footsteps.

He continued working, pretending he hadn't heard anything. The approaching footsteps stopped next to him but he ignored the other's presence. Finally, the owner of the footsteps sat down on the ground and crossed his legs. "I'm sorry, Zim. And I mean really sorry." he began. "I shouldn't have tired to push you into trusting another human. Especially considering it took you 5 years to trust me. Hell, I wouldn't blame you if you still didn't completely trust me. I shouldn't have taken advantage of what little trust you have for me. It's just, I'm worried about you. I can't help it. You've been sick for the past two weeks and we don't even know what's causing it. You have no fever, you're fine at night but still there has to be something causing it. Some reason that we can't see." A few moments of silence passed before Zim finally sighed and pulled himself out from under the ship to stare into Dib's face.

Dib no longer had an angry expression on his face but a calm look, if not a bit worried. Zim's own facial expression had softened somewhat as he moved to sit up. He rubbed one of his eyes quickly and yawned. He hadn't been getting much sleep lately between having sex and getting sick. Irkens didn't need sleep but he never knew how much it took out of him. He was sleeping more regularly and he felt as though he was becoming dependent on it. Perhaps he had spent too much time on Earth.

He watched as the human shifted closer to him to wrap an arm around him. He allowed Dib to get closer to him and get comfortable as he just sat there in Dib's arms. "It's alright. I know you're just worried but you needn't worry about me, Dib. Zim can take good care of himself. I'm working on something in my PAK that will counter whatever it is that's making me so sick lately. I'll be just fine. You'll see. But if you're still worried, I guess I can go ahead and take Gir back to my base. With Gir it will only take me a few hours. I'll do a quick body scan, figure out what's wrong if anything, fix my PAK to take care of it, and be back before midnight." He leaned more into Dib, getting comfortable and enjoying the warmth of the other.

Dib tightened his hold on Zim, pulling him closer for comfort. "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt. But call me if it turns out to be serious. I want to be able to help if it is."

Zim shook his head. "Dib, you worry too much."

Zim spent an hour chasing Gir around the house before he finally agreed to take Zim back to the base, but only if the Irken took him to get tacos later. Reluctantly, Zim agreed and ordered the insane bot to get into his dog disguise before they left. Zim did the same, grateful that he had a spare at Dib's summerhouse. Dib watched as the two prepared to leave. Dib didn't like the fact that they were leaving to return to Zim's base but they had agreed to return as soon as possible.

He would just have to deal being without Zim for a little while he told himself. He never realized how attached he had become to the Irken in such a short amount of time. But now he was regretting letting him leave. It was too late now though. He placed one final kiss on the alien's lips before stepping back and waving as they sped away. Zim was happy to return the kiss though he couldn't figure out what was wrong with the Dib.

It wasn't until he was out of sight of the house that he began to feel a little lonely. Sure, he still had Gir but he had gotten so used to Dib's company that it just wasn't the same. He hated to admit that he missed the human so much. Even weirder was that he was feeling a tad bit out of place and homesick for the house he had called home for a little more than a month now. He had never felt that way about his base before. Only Irk. Even the fact that he was returning to his base for a little while didn't cheer him up.

Dib's earlier words were beginning to set in. What if there really was something seriously wrong with him? Something he couldn't cure? The thoughts had him feeling sick to his stomach again as they continued along their path back to the base. Zim would have liked some kind of noise to keep his mind off the thoughts that were springing into his head. Anything would do. But Gir was unusually quiet for most of the trip. The quiet was becoming so unbearable that Zim even had Gir take a stop at a Crazy Taco to pick up Gir's promised tacos.

The sound of Gir's cheers when he told the little robot they could stop and get his tacos first had Zim smiling. It almost had Zim forgetting his reason for them even being out there until the base came into view after entering the city. The sight had all his fears flooding back to him suddenly. He felt his stomach drop to the ground as they approached the oddly colored house. It looked to be abandoned.

He was sure most of his computer systems had gone into some type of power saving mode from the lack of use in the past two months, though some functions still seemed to be intact. The lights were out but he noticed the lawn gnomes turn toward him as he and Gir walked up the pathway there. He was pretty sure it was safe to assume that nobody had entered the premises in his absence and had anybody done that, they would have been taken care of quickly by the lawn gnomes. The front door was unlocked when he entered, probably due to Gir always forgetting to lock it before leaving. But it didn't matter. There were more than enough systems still running to protect the house.

Unfortunately, the one system he had hoped shut down with most of the others, came to life almost the instant he stepped through the door. "Darn...I was hoping for a longer vacation..." came the monotone voice of his house's computer.

Zim glared slightly at that welcome home but otherwise ignored his computer's cocky response to his return. "I only need you for a little while, then you can go back to whatever the hell you were doing before I came home. I have no intention of staying here any longer than I need."

The computer responded casually. "Whatever...what do you need?" Zim made his way into the lab before answering. He stepped out of the elevator to walk over to a computer console in the dimly lit room.

He typed in a few things and then stood back. "Computer, I need a full body scan, DNA test, bleed test, and anything else you can think of to do. Check for anything abnormal in my body chemistry. I've been getting sick a lot lately and I want to know why my PAK hasn't been doing anything to counter it. I'm beginning to think something vital may have been damaged in my PAK. If I can just figure out what, I'll be able to go in and fix it within a few hours."

The computer sighed lazily. "Alright...Hold still a moment." came the delayed response before a syringe came down to get a sample of Zim's blood along with another coil to hook into the back of Zim's PAK. A few electrical shocks were sent through the coil connected to Zim but only with enough power to cause Zim a little discomfort as the scan and DNA tests were performed. It took a few minutes to finish before the coil pulled away and the computer's voice filled the room again, more professional than before. "Scan complete. Processing information gathered. Approximate completion time: 1 hour, 43 minutes, and 12 seconds." Zim cursed under his breath a bit.

He knew it would take some time to complete but he was hoping it would be finished a little sooner than that. He looked to the computer screen, watching as the information was brought up. It was hard to keep up with so much information at once and most of it was useless to him. He watched a few more minutes before deciding to just wait for the computer to finish and tell him the results. In the meantime, he decided to head back up to the house level of his base to find Gir. As suspected, the little SIR unit was found sitting in front of the TV watching some kid's show while eating tacos. Zim had nothing better to do while he waited so he took a seat on the couch to watch TV too, every once in a while letting his eyes wander to the phone, contemplating whether to call Dib or not.

In the end he decided not to, knowing he'd just cause the human to worry more about him. The time passed painfully slow and when it was finally up, Zim rushed back down to the lab to get the results. "Computer, what information have you gathered from the tests?"

The computer stalled a moment before finally speaking. "Analysis complete. Subject 1: Zim. Subject 2: Unknown. Diagnosis loading. One moment please." Zim watched in anticipation as the data he needed loaded onto a different computer screen.

There were several sirens and bright lights outside. A young boy awoke and climbed out of bed to find his window in the dark. It wasn't hard with all the commotion going on outside. He heard some yelling and saw some people outside crowding around an area down below. The police were there keeping the neighbors a safe distance away.

He saw an ambulance pull up and some paramedics jump out and run over to the scene. The boy couldn't quite make out what was going on. He only recognized a few of the neighbors and the rest were strangers. Then he saw his father among them. He was kneeling in the middle of the crowd. The paramedics ran over and kneeled next to his father.

He spoke to them briefly before getting up to say something to a cop standing nearby. The boy couldn't make out what they were saying. That's when he heard a knock on his door. A few seconds passed before a young girl, no more than three, came barging into his room. "Dib, what's going on?" the purple haired girl said in a somewhat panicked voice.

Dib turned toward his younger sister, Gaz, his face showing as much fear as hers. "I don't know. Daddy is outside with a bunch of people." She quickly squeezed in next to Dib to look out the window also. They saw their father jump into the back of the ambulance. Another policeman came over to speak to him a moment before leaving to pass some information to another cop. They watched the cops intently as they conversed.

The first cop said something to the other then pointed to the window. They both turned to look at Dib and Gaz in the window which had them scattering back quickly. Gaz clung to Dib's arms and he held her close. "Dib, I'm scared! I don't like this! I want mommy!" she whimpered. Just as they were going to leave to find their mother, however, the door opened and in walked a female police cop.

They both screamed and ran to the far end of the room, cowering in fear. The policewoman got down lower on her knees so as to not scare the kids any more than they already were. She spoke softly to them as she approached slowly. "Hey, you guys. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just here to help. Your dad asked me to give you a ride to the hospital to meet him there. Okay?" She reached out to take them by the hands. The touch instantly had them both struggling to get away but she already had a strong hold on them.

Gaz screamed and cried as she was picked up and carried in one arm while Dib was dragged along behind. The lady bounced Gaz gently, trying to calm her as she walked. "Sssshhh... It's all right. Everything's going to be just fine. I know it's scary but it will all be over in a little while"

Dib struggled to get away as he yelled at her, tears streaming down his own cheeks. "Let us go! We don't want to go with you! Just leave us alone!" But it was no use. No matter how much he struggled, he just couldn't break free from the woman's grasp. When she got them outside, she passed them off to another cop who walked them past the scene. Dib stopped his fighting a moment to look at what was going on around him.

He saw a lot of people, then a stretcher. What he saw next had all the blood draining from him face suddenly. The person in the stretcher was none other than his mother. He cried out even more desperately, kicking and screaming to try and get to her. "Mommy!" Dib shot up straight in bed. "Mom!"

He sat there panting in bed a moment, sweat beading at the top of his forehead. "A dream. It was just a dream, Dib." he kept telling himself but the images in his head were just too realistic. He looked down to his hands a moment. They were shaking as he brought them up to wipe away some of the sweat on his face. It was just a dream he kept telling himself but it was more than just that.

A nightmare didn't quite sum it up. The events were too exact. It was more like a haunting memory. It wasn't the first time he had recalled those events in his life. No. He had had this dream many times in the past but it had been a while since he last dreamt it. He thought he was over this.

Was beginning to think he would never have that dream again. So why was it coming back to him now? Was it this house? Perhaps his room? It hadn't changed much since that night 12 years ago. He was only 4 at the time but he remembered everything perfectly still. Every sight, every sound, every emotion. He even remembered his sister's fear at that moment in time.

Everything. He just wanted to forget it all and move on with his life, but it was so hard when he was sitting in the exact room he had been in back then. He wanted to leave, find another room to sleep in. The only reason he was even sleeping there in the first place was because his father was home tonight. He didn't say anything but Dib knew he didn't like the idea of him and Zim sleeping together. So they only slept together when Membrane was at work. Otherwise, Dib would sleep in his own room while Zim continued to use the guests' room for the nights he decided to actually sleep. It kept Membrane happy and Dib preferred sleeping with Zim more when they had more privacy.

At the moment, however, Dib would have happily welcomed anybody that came into his room, even Gir. He had screamed, he was sure, but he wasn't certain how loud it had come out. He waited a few minutes to see if anybody would come up to his room. It seemed nobody had heard him and he sighed in some relief that he hadn't woken anyone up, though he wished Zim was with him. That's when it dawned on him.

Was Zim home yet? He looked at the alarm clock on the table next to his bed. It was a little past 2:00a.m. The Irken had said he would be home by midnight. He hadn't received any phone calls yet and he was beginning to worry. He had no idea whether Zim was had come home yet or not.

He wanted to get up and check but decided against it. He didn't want to wake the Irken up if he was home. He let out a sigh as he contemplated on whether he should go to sleep downstairs on the couch or not. Before he could get up though, there came a light knock on his door. A few seconds passed before the door opened just enough for two red orbs that served as the Irken's eyes to peer in. Zim came to stand in the doorway, a blanket draped about him. He was a bit pale but it was hard to tell in the dark room. "Dib, are you okay?" he asked in a tired voice. "I heard you scream."

Dib just nodded his head in response. "Y...yeah...I'm fine...It was just a bad dream."

Zim stood back, fidgeting a bit and playing with the blanket. "Can Zim come in?"

Dib responded quickly. "Of course!" he didn't want to be alone again. Dib watched as the Irken quickly scrambled into the bed with him. As Zim moved about in the covers trying to get comfortable, Dib questioned Zim curiously. "How long have you been back?"

"About two hours." came the muffled response from under the covers. "You were already asleep when I got back so I just headed to the spare bedroom." Zim finally got comfortable nuzzled deep in the warm bed covers and blankets. He wrapped his arms around Dib's waist as he pushed as close to Dib as he could get.

Dib remained sitting up a few more moments. "Oh...you didn't call..."

Zim shifted slightly. "You said to only call if it was serious."

Something in Zim's voice had Dib questioning him further. "So...you're alright? There's nothing to worry about? You're gonna take care of it?"

Zim seemed to tense a bit before finally giving his answer. "Zim will be...just fine..." Zim seemed to hesitate as he said that.

Dib was slightly concerned but decided not to question it any further at the moment. "Oh...okay..." he said as he settled back down into the bed. The room was quiet as they lay there for a few minutes, neither saying anything nor going back to sleep. Dib stayed staring at the ceiling as Zim just stared into the darkness. The peace wasn't particularly comforting.

Dib felt Zim begin rubbing his antennae to his skin and Dib couldn't help but reach down and take one of the thin appendages in his fingers. Zim instantly loosened his hold on Dib, his entire body going slack against the human's as he purred lowly. He loved it when Dib touched his antennae and would have given anything to feel Dib's mouth on one of them. Almost as if reading his mind, Dib did just that, running his tongue up the length of the thin stalk. Zim gasped and groaned as his antennae twitched for more. But suddenly he felt Dib pull away and he whined for the loss of contact. He was quickly quieted however as Dib's mouth covered his.

He let out a muffled sound as he pressed closer so he could kiss Dib deeper and more passionately. Meanwhile, his hands roamed Dib's body, wanting more of him. He lazily dragged his claws across Dib's skin before they broke the kiss to stare into each other's eyes. Dib's eyes looked pleading as he asked one final time. "You sure you're okay?"

Zim kept his eyes locked on Dib's a moment longer before closing his eyes and sighing against Dib's hair when he nuzzled his face in Zim's neck. "Yeah..." And so they slept the rest of the night in that position. Dib awoke a few hours later completely alone. He wondered a moment whether he might have dreamt last night. He heard a toilet flush and instantly thought differently.

Quickly, he got out of bed and headed toward the bathroom. When he got there, the door was closed and he could hear the sound of somebody getting sick. When the coughing fit started, he wasted no time in knocking on the door. "Zim?" He didn't wait for a response before pushing the door open. Inside, he found the alien doubled over with one arm wrapped around his abdomen and his other in front of his mouth as he coughed uncontrollably.

Dib quickly knelt down next to the Irken, rubbing Zim's back with one hand. "Zim, I thought you said you'd be fine! That you took care of it!"

Zim continued to cough, trying to catch his breath. "I" he coughed some more. "am." When he could finally speak again without difficulty, he placed his arms on the toilet seat and pillowed his head in his arms. He was feeling extremely dizzy and he just wanted to be alone. But Dib wasn't about to leave.

He wanted answers and Zim's words just plain pissed him off. The Irken was lying to him. There was something he was keeping from Dib. He pulled away so he could stand back up and cross his arms over his chest as he sent an unseen glare to the Irken. "You're lying to me. There is something wrong. Something you can't take care of." Zim buried his face in his arms.

He really didn't want to deal with this now. "Dib."

But Dib continued speaking. "So don't tell me you're fine when you're not!"

Zim tried again. "Dib! Just leave me alone! I don't want to talk about it right now!"

That wasn't going to stop Dib, however. "Tell me the truth, Zim! Let me know what's wrong! Stop keeping me in the dark about everything! I may be able to help you if-" Zim couldn't take anymore of this.

He exploded in a fit of rage at all of Dib's questioning. "DAMNIT, DIB! Will you just shut the fuck up and leave me alone?! There's nothing you can do and if there was, I wouldn't let you! I told you I could handle it, and I can! Alone!" Before he could stop himself, he had turned on the human and had a laser gun on one of his spiderlegs pointed at Dib's head. Dib fell to the ground and looked up at the Irken towering over him in fear. The look on Zim's face was one of pure rage until he saw the fear in Dib's eyes. He pulled back instantly, his spiderlegs lowering him back to his knees on the ground. Dib sat still a few moments, shaken from Zim's actions before quickly getting up to leave without so much as another word.

Zim wanted to go find the human and apologize, but he doubted Dib wanted to talk to him after that little outburst so he made himself sit down and work on his ship for a while, though he wasn't making much progress at all. After a few failed attempts to fix one of the engines, he finally gave up on it for the day and decided to go find Dib. The human couldn't still be mad at him, could he? However, when he couldn't find Dib in the house he began to worry. He knew where Dib was but he had learned, it was a place Dib went to only when he was upset about something.

Putting on his disguise, he got up the courage to go talk to Dib. He left the house, determined not to return without Dib. As he suspected, the boy was at his mother's grave, sulking. He sat on the ground with his legs up to his chest and his chin held up in his arms as he glared at nothing in particular. Zim approached from behind, keeping a good distance away. Like he had done the night before when he stood in Dib's doorway, he fidgeted unsure whether he should say anything or keep quiet until Dib noticed him.

His latter idea won out as Dib addressed him first, unmoving from his spot on the ground. "What do you want? Did you come to finish what you started earlier this morning or is there another reason you're here?" he said in a harsh voice. Zim winced at those words. Ouch. Guess he deserved that.

He remained quiet a few more long moments, trying to think of something to say to help the situation. He was really bad at apologies and Dib wasn't making it any easier or better. He sounded nervous as he tried to get a few words out. "I...I'm..."

Dib finally turned slightly to glare at the Irken. The look had Zim's words getting caught in the back of his throat. "Listen. If you have nothing to say then why don't you just go away and leave me alone." Those words hurt more than anything physical Dib could do to him. Now he knew how Dib had felt earlier that morning when he had said those same words to him. Zim was at a loss for words as he just stared sadly at the human.

But still he tried. He had to get something out, anything that would make up for his earlier actions. "I thought you wanted to help me."

Dib turned back around so he was no longer facing the Irken. "I did until I found out how much of an ass you were going to be about it."

Zim looked away to the side. "So...if I were to ask you for it now, would you?"

Dib leaned back a bit and stared into the sky. "I don't know why you're asking that now. You made it pretty clear this morning that you could handle it. Alone."

Zim was becoming impatient. "You didn't answer my question. Would you?"

Dib seemed to give it some thought. "I don't know." he finally answered in a whisper that Zim could barely catch. Zim finally looked back to Dib, swallowing down his stubbornness. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Asking for help was not Zim's strong point. "Zim...could use some...assistance." he finally managed to get out.

Dib turned back toward him, raising an eyebrow curiously. "Okay...what exactly do you need "assistance" with?"

Zim looked down to the ground before answering. "A child."

That was the last thing Dib expected to hear coming from the Irken's mouth. "A child? But, Zim, what does that have to do with any of-"

Zim cut in, laughing nervously. "Eh heh heh...funny thing about that...I never thought that humans and Irkens were genetically linked in any way." Dib turned completely around to stare at the alien with his mouth open as the words seemed to process in his mind.

When things finally pieced together all Dib could do was try to stutter out a response. "Oh!...Oh my God! OH MY GOD!" In a flash he was on his feet pacing back and forth. "B...but. How?! And when?! And...and...oh my God! How is this possible?! I mean, you're a...a..." Zim watched the human pace back and forth. He was taking it much better than Zim had originally thought.

Zim finally spoke up in an attempt to calm the panicking human. "Dib, calm down. Panicking won't help anything."

Dib finally stopped in his tracks and fell back to a sitting position. "Calm down? CALM DOWN?! HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO CALM DOWN WHEN YOU'RE TELLING ME I'M GOING TO BE A PARENT?! I'M 16 FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!!! I'm too young! I can't take care of a baby! I'm not even out of hi-skool yet! And you're a male! How can you be pregnant?!? It's just not physically possible!" he rambled like that a few minutes longer before Zim got annoyed with it and walked over to slap the boy. The slap had Dib shutting up quickly and bringing a hand up to place over his sore cheek.

"DIB!" he said firmly as he placed two hands on Dib's shoulders. "I know I owe you an explanation and I'll give you one if you just calm down." Dib just sat there looking at the Irken, still shaken but he nodded his head. Letting out a gentle sigh, he began. "On Irk...it's not uncommon for the males of my species to give birth. Our bodies can easily adapt for such things thought it's been becoming rarer and rarer on my planet. Over the stretches of time, females have become scarcer and scarcer. That's why we began using males again but around the time of Impending DOOM I, we switched over to smeet hatcheries so the males and females could begin training for the upcoming invasions. Unfortunately, smeet hatcheries are easy targets for enemies of the Irken Empire. About 20 years ago, they began trying to interbreed with other species. Since it's rare to find two males of different species that would be compatible, we often only use females. We thought if we could gather enough females from other races, we'd be able to raise more soldiers for fighting. Unfortunately, our effort failed. Very few species are compatible with Irkens. Vortians have been the best choice so far and we use PAK's to control them after they are born so they don't rebel. Vortian females are strong. They were good choices to protect the child by protecting themselves The Irken Empire is always looking for new species though. They use whatever they can get. But I never thought that you humans, such a slowly evolving species, would be compatible with such a superior race as mine. You're just lucky I'm no longer in contact with my leaders. If they were to ever find out, your planet would be as good as invaded."

All this new information had Dib placing a hand on his head and shaking it as he tried to make sense of everything the Irken was telling him. "S...so now what do you suppose we do?"

Zim looked away, not wanting the human to see his face as he answered. "I don't know..."

Suddenly something seemed to dawn on Dib. "Oh, God..." he moaned. "What am I going to tell my dad? How am I supposed to explain to him that I somehow managed to get you pregnant? I barely understand how I did it. It's bad enough that he disapproved of our sleeping together."

Zim looked up as he seemed to think about it a moment. "I know. Just don't tell him. I'll...eh...go up to space in the ship when it's time to give birth. Then I'll ship it in a box to some uninhabited place in space. No one will ever have to know any of this happened. Problem solved."

That had Dib looking up quickly at the Irken. "ZIM! You can't do that to it!"

Zim looked to Dib confused. "Eh? Why not? Are you saying you want to keep it?" he shuddered at the thought of what a hybrid half human, half Irken baby would look like. He stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry. "Yuck! Such an ugly combination."

But Dib was being completely serious. "I...I don't know yet. I need to think about it a while. But we can't just ship it off into space. There's really no way around it. We have to keep it."

"What?!?" Zim shot back, shocked by Dib's words. "We can't keep it! Like you said, you're too young to be a parent! And Zim knows nothing of caring for 'children'!" he said the word as though it were the worst word anybody could say or even consider saying.

It was Dib's turn to remain calm as the Irken rambled on. "l know...but we have to take responsibility for out actions."

Zim's jaw hung open as he stared at Dib. "You're father won't like this. He may just decide to turn Zim in!"

Dib sighed and pulled Zim close. "He wouldn't do that, Zim. I'll think of a way to tell him. Then we'll figure the rest out along the way. I promise."

Zim let his eyes slip halfway closed as he leaned against Dib. "I'm scared..."

Dib just nuzzled his face against Zim's cheek. "Everything will work out." he said in a reassuring way, though whether he said it more for himself or Zim was unknown to even himself.

A/N: Well, I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter of Near Misses and will continue reading. Thanks for reading! waves


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: My friend, Angie, standing behind me with whip.: "Type, damnit! TYPE, Karina!!!"

Me: ;; Help...

All right. I know I suck. I've been promising to update this story for over a month now. Sorry this took so long especially considering it's such a short chapter, but you have no idea how hard it was to write this! I had no idea how Membrane would react to any of this. It took a lot of concentration to come up with lines for Membrane in this chapter, and personally I still think it sucks but it's the best I could come up with. Especially considering I have skool that gets in the way, which brings me to my next note. I'm sorry about the last chapter and all the typos, people. I was too frustrated to look over the entire chapter last time because half of it got erased when typing it last time. It was midnight, I was three sentences away from finishing, and then my computer got all fucked up so I had to spend another 2 hours retyping it. Exactly why I always write out my chapters before typing them. I just can't ever trust my computer to not get fucked up when making a story. I've already lost a number of stories due to this fact. Even some of the ones I hope to have published someday as books. I have to rewrite them and hopefully I can remember my storylines. sigh -.-; But enough about that. Just sorry about the typos. Spelling is not my strong point. And I call myself an English major. I will definitely work on that. Anyways, why don't we get started with chapter 2 of Near Misses now? Hopefully I won't lose any readers because of the shortness of this chapter and the next two after it. I promise not all my chapters are this short. They get long again in chapter 5 which I will hopefully get to soon. I'm hoping I'll have more time to work on this story faster now. Anyways, on with chapter 2: Month 1-Father/Son Talk. Enjoy! Disclaimer-Nope! Still don't own anybody. Don't sue me!

Dib sat up in bed watching Zim sleep. The last couple of days had been hard on both of them. They didn't even have sex when Membrane said he was leaving for a couple days to go back to work. Zim was too busy catching up on some much needed sleep. And Dib? Well, he was trying to think of a way to explain to his father how he managed to get a male alien pregnant.

He considered just using the direct approach and telling his father the truth about the matter, but when he proposed the idea to Zim, the Irken freaked out and begged Dib to at least come up with a better way to break the news to Membrane. So far, Dib was coming up blank however. Why couldn't Zim have been a girl he kept asking himself? At least the idea would have made some kind of sense. But like everything else in his life, nothing made sense. No wonder people called him crazy most of his life. In fact, he was pretty sure his father would think he went insane when he told Membrane the news.

He just wanted to get it over with already but Membrane was still out. He had told them he would be back by 5:00 in the morning but it was already well past 6:00. He was beginning to worry the Irken would wake up before he broke the news to his dad. Dib had already come to the conclusion that there was not going to be any easy way to break it to his father. He'd just have to tell him straight up. And he really didn't want to have to suffer through another day of worrying about it.

He heard the front door opening downstairs suddenly. He had to be quick and do it before Zim woke up. He looked down upon the sleeping alien one last time and caressed his cheek gently before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. Then he whispered gently to the Irken. "It will all be over soon." With that said, he pushed himself up off the bed and headed toward the stairs.

He made his way down them, feeling as he did the first day his father arrived at the house. Nervous. He came to stand on the last step of the staircase as his father proceeded to put a few things away in a closet next to the front door. He turned when he noticed Dib's presence behind him. Turning, he smiled at Dib and greeted him. "Ah, Good morning, Dib. Sorry I'm so late getting home. There was a small problem at work I had to take care of."

Dib just nodded, "Morning. It's alright...Ummm...dad, can I-" Dib instantly fell quiet as a small sense of insecurity fell over him.

Membrane just kept smiling. "Well, now. Did you need something?"

Dib stalled a moment, his eyes on the ground until he managed to force something out. "Dad, I need to tell you something important."

Membrane nodded. "Alright, then, why don't we head into the kitchen and you can tell me whatever you need to tell me."

Dib just nodded weakly as his father wrapped a friendly arm around him. He didn't dare make eye contact as he was led into the kitchen. They both took seats across from each other at the kitchen table.

Membrane folded his arms on the table and watched Dib intently. "Alright, Dib. What do you need to tell me? I'm all ears."

Dib just gulped as his face paled. "It's about Zim."

His father raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh? Well, what about Zim? Is there something wrong with him?"

Dib just shook his head slowly. "W...we screwed up...I never even considered it a possibility until he told me...he...we..." Dib sighed harshly. He didn't know why this was so hard.

His father just placed a reassuring hand on Dib's shoulder as he buried his face in his hands and began shaking his head. "Slow down, Dib. Just take your time. Now, just tell me what happened. Maybe I can help."

Dib took in a shaky breath, now knowing how Zim felt about telling him. "We made a mistake. Something neither of us can fix. We're going to take responsibilities for our actions, accept the consequences, but we need some help. I know we can't do this alone. And you need to know. We wouldn't be able to keep it a secret for long. I just hope you don't get upset when I tell you and that you'll still be willing to help us."

Membrane placed his other hand on Dib's shoulder. "Dib, I told you I would support you no matter what. So just go ahead and tell me what happened and I'll see what I can do."

Dib closed his eyes. "You're going to think I'm crazy when I tell you."

Membrane just shook his head and laughed a bit. "Well, I'm pretty used to it by now. Trust me, I've seen some pretty crazy things in my life. Though meeting Zim has got to be one of the craziest. But I believe now and I'm pretty sure whatever you're about to tell me, I will believe no matter what. It's kind of hard to doubt things after you've met a real alien. Can't get any weirder than that."

Dib sighed. "Well, I don't know how you'll be able to believe this one when I barely believe it myself. You know how Zim's been getting sick a lot lately?"

Membrane nodded his head slowly. "Yeeesss..." he held the word out slowly. "I'm not sure I like where this is going but continue."

So Dib continued slowly. "Well, I sort of...kind of...managed to somehow get him...pregnant..." Dib said the last word quickly and quietly, shrinking back as soon as it was out.

There was an awkward silence that followed shortly after that. Membrane released Dib and plopped back down into his chair across from Dib. Bringing a hand up to his forehead, he began to take in steady, slow breaths. A long time passed before he finally said anything. "Well, this certainly is a surprise. I'm no stranger to pregnancies and even some species of animals such as seahorses having male pregnancies, but a male alien pregnancy is just...wow! I guess there's a lot more I still need to learn about Irkens. Perhaps it wouldn't be so surprising if you were an Irken but this is just...hmmm...I can see why you're caught in such a tough spot. I don't know what to tell you at this point. I'm sorry, Dib, but I need some time to think on this so if you'll excuse me..." he got up to leave.

Dib just watched helplessly as his father left the room, feeling as though things hadn't gone as well as he had been hoping them to go. Dib returned to the room, only looking up when Zim addressed him. "Where have you been?" he sounded as though he had just woken up as he rubbed one eye tiredly.

Dib gave him a slightly nervous look as he approached the bed and sat down on the edge of it. "I told my dad."

Zim seemed to snap awake at that. "WHAT?! Well, what happened?! How did he take it?!"

Dib looked away from Zim. "Things...could have went better."

That response had Zim paling somewhat. "Is he going to turn Zim into the authorities?"

Dib's head snapped back up to stare at the Irken in disbelief. "What?! No! Of course not! How many times do I have to tell you he wouldn't do that, Zim! He just said he needed some time...to think on the matter. That's all." Though he wasn't sure why those words worried him.

Over the next few days, Zim did his best to avoid Membrane as much as possible, which wasn't hard considering he spent most of his time just hiding underneath the covers of the bed. It frustrated Dib that Zim still wouldn't take his word on the fact but he didn't push the subject any further. He was too worried by the fact that his father seemed to be avoiding him now too. He had locked himself in his lab for a few days, only coming out for food breaks. He barely spoke when he ran into Dib except for the occasional "hi" when they passed in the kitchen.

It wasn't until late one afternoon that Membrane finally approached Dib. He was just heading into the living room to find Gaz when his father stopped him and addressed him in a serious tone. "Dib, may I please have a word with you?"

Dib just nodded and followed his dad into the kitchen. Dib felt nervous, knowing exactly what his father wanted to talk to him about. He took a seat, as did Membrane. He wasn't sure whether to say something or wait for his father to begin speaking. Before he could decide, however, his father began first. "Dib, I want to apologized for the way I've been acting these past couple of days. I did exactly what I've been trying to avoid doing. I threw myself into my work while you were left to deal with your own problems, something I tend to do when I don't understand something. I kept telling myself there was nothing I could do to help considering I knew so little about Irkens. I figured you'd be able to handle it better than I could but then I realized something. Just because you understand Irkens better didn't mean you weren't as confused about the situation as I was. But I thought of a way I could help. I don't know why I didn't think of it before. I may not understand how a male alien could get pregnant or how two different species are able to reproduce, but I know enough about pregnancies and how to prepare for them to at least help you through this. Trust me, Dib. When your mother was first pregnant with you, I had a response close to yours. I had no idea what to do but I learned and I never regretted going through that experience. It also had me better prepared for when we had Gaz and I see no reason why my knowledge on the facts can't help you as well. Besides, half alien or not, this is my first grandchild we're talking about here, though I was hoping for a few more years before having to take that title. Being called grandpa makes me feel old." he laughed, smiling at Dib.

Dib nearly jumped into his father's arms at that. "Oh, thank you so much, dad. I wouldn't be able to make it through this without your support."

Membrane smiled and wrapped tight arms around his son. "Of course, Dib. So are you excited about it yet?"

Dib pulled away, really having to think about that question a moment. "Actually, I haven't really thought about it all that much. It happened so quickly, I didn't have time to be excited. I was too worried about how you would react to it. And Zim didn't seem too happy about it. I don't think he even want to keep it."

Membrane just chuckled lightly to himself. "Ah, well don't worry about it, Dib. I assure you, you'll both get more excited about it when the time comes. After all the work you have to do preparing for it, the last thing you'll want to do it lose it."

A/N: All right. And so ends chapter 2. It's midnight and I still have homework. Oh well, I'll do it in the morning. And hopefully work on chapter 3 tomorrow during skool. Well see you then.

And now to thank everybody that reviewed on that last chapter.

To Thomas Rose: Heh. Lol. Yeah. The title will hopefully make more sense a little later in the story. Thank you for taking the time to read my first story and what I have up of this one so far. Sorry for all the typos. I really did notice them after re reading it the next day. I was just too lazy to go back and fix them. Too much skool work. But I'll make sure to read through this chapter before posting. Yes, Zim dies at the end...or does he?! Unfortunately, I can't really say anymore without giving away the good parts. You'll just have to keep on reading to find out and don't worry. There's a third story after this one. Can't go into too many details on that one yet but rest assured that it will be ZADR.

To Sora4President: Yes, this is an Mpreg. And I'm probably going to lose readers for that fact. I'm not much of an Mpreg person myself but I feel like I can make it work for Zim and Dib cause Zim's an Irken and we can't be 100 sure of what the Irken anatomy is like. Plus, I just love torturing poor little Zimmy. . Thank you for still agreeing to read and also for reading my first story. It really means a lot to me.

And to anybody else that reviews- Thank you all. Much love to all my reviewers!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Because I love all my reviewers, here is the next chapter of Near Misses. Feel honored I got this chapter up so soon! I've been running around all week with papers to write, psychology test to study for, and birthday and hospital trips to make. Too much excitement for one week but now I'm ready to sit back, relax, and work on this story. Unfortunately, this chapter is another short one, and it also has no ZADR in it. Gasp Awww... D8 But in place of that, there will be some smutty RAPR goodness. Yay! 8D For all those smut lovers out there, be happy. Originally, I had only planned there to be 5 smut scenes in this story, but I extended it to 6 because I felt a need to have at least one smutty RAPR scene in this. Also, I felt it appropriate to add it into this chapter since it is so short. I don't want to keep you waiting too long like I did in my other story. And for those who hate smut, I give warning before the scene. Please don't just skip this chapter all together. It has crucial filler information for the rest of the story. Also, if you want to know more information about this story, feel free to check out my journal on My username is orangechidna. I'll be posting information about this story and the next. Also, I'll have a request for character names I'll need for both stories. (Check out my journal for extra info on characters.) Finally, I must warn you, there may be some spoilers for the story but I'll try to keep most of the plot as secretive as I can. I don't want to ruin the story for anyone. Also feel free to look through my gallery. I have plenty of ZADR art as well as this story. Can't see the mature content ones? Go ahead and email me at and I'll be more than happy to send them to you. Also if anybody wants to see some of my more smutty art go ahead and email me and I'll send you some of the stuff I'm working on. Now that that's out of the way, let's get started. Disclaimer: I'm not cool enough to own any of the characters in this story so don't sue me. Chapter 3: Enter Tallest. Enjoy! (I must make note of how much I hate my computer. It's died three times already when I was in the middle of typing out this chapter. In fact, I would have had this chapter up yesterday if it hadn't died last night.)

ON THE MASSIVE

Purple eyes closed lazily and antennae twitched as Tallest Purple relaxed into the soothing warmth of a gel bath he had just prepared. He had had a long day of sitting back, ordering other Irkens around, eating snacks, and laughing at those he had managed to cause bodily harm. Yep. Being Tallest was great. But now he just wanted to relax away from it all. It was hard work being Tallest and stressful at times. Of course, his co-leader did most of the work while he just sat back and watched in amusement. But that was beside the point.

He enjoyed locking himself away in their private chambers at times. The constant movement of the ship always had the gel in the tub lapping up against his chin a bit. It was peaceful and he enjoyed the gentle rocking. He was becoming so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't notice the other presence in the room with him until long, three-fingered hands dipped into the gel to wrap arms around his chest from behind. Purple opened his eyes slightly as he tilted his head back to flash the other a toothy grin. "What took you so long?" he purred gently.

Red gave him a lazy smile as he responded. "Oh, you know. The normal. Our crew is pretty useless so I'm stuck doing everything."

Purple re-closed his eyes again, nodding. "Hmmm...Maybe we should trade them for a better crew."

Red seemed to give that some thought before answering. "Why trade them when we can sell them. At least then we'd be able to make some monies."

Purple thought about that a moment. "Naaa...who would pay monies for such a useless crew? Besides, then we'd have nobody to bring us snacks. And I just ordered nachos!"

SMUT SCENE. NO LIKEY, NO LOOKEY! ENJOY!

Red leaned forward more, taking one of Purple's antennae in his mouth. Purple's body went lax in Red's arms and his eyes drooped partially closed. He tried to form words but all that came out was a few incoherent noises. "Nyaaa...Mmmm..." The noises soon turned to a content purr as he leaned back more. Red released Purple's antennae a moment to move his mouth to Purple's neck. Purple's head cleared up quickly as he regained the ability to talk again. "All right. We'll talk about what to do with our useless crew later but for now, come here." He turned around and attempted to pull Tallest Red into the tub with him.

Red nearly lost his balance before managing to push Purple away. "At least wait until I've taken my clothes off first," he said as he stood to get undressed.

Purple pouted as he crossed his arms and turned away. "You're no fun."

"Oh, really?" he said as he finished undressing and made his way over to the edge of the tub to step in next to Purple. "I beg to differ." he said as he lowered himself to Purple's level and moved in front of him to press his hips to Purple's.

Purple, who was trying to show he wasn't at all affected by any of the things Red was doing to him, gasped suddenly at the press of hips. "You s...suck, Red." he hissed through his teeth but otherwise didn't complain.

Red just grinned evilly at Purple as he brought a hand down to continue his ministrations. He pressed Purple tightly up against the back of the tub as he lazily dragged his hand down between their bodies to grasp Purple's member lightly. Purple moaned out loudly as he thrust his hips forward, trying to build more friction. He loved the workings of Red's hand on his aching member. It was more pleasurable than anything else he knew in life, even being Tallest, and he never wanted it to end. He wrapped his legs tightly around the other and clung onto Red's shoulders as his thrusts became faster and his moans filled the room. Red worked his hand more vigorously in an attempt to get Purple off. With one final, powerful thrust, Purple reached his climax and released his seed into the other's hand.

He could visibly see the remains of it in the tub as he practically collapsed forward into Red's arms, panting. Red allowed Purple a moment to rest before he moved to the opposite end of the tub, pulling Purple with him, to take a seat. Getting comfortable quickly, he tugged Purple onto his lap. Purple took his time positioning himself so he could take Red's member into his body. He moaned lowly at the feeling as Red's head fell back, a moan of his own escaping his mouth. Once seated, Purple leaned forward against Red's chest to nibble lightly at the skin on his neck.

Red hummed lowly in the back of his throat as his eyes slipped closed. "Mmmm...yeeesss..."

Purple smiled slyly against skin before kissing it gently and rocking his hips to match Red's own thrusts. His member was already hard again and pressed between their bodies. Red clung to the back of the tub as he brought his hips up, panting as each thrust brought him closer and closer to a release. Purple dug his nails into Red's shoulders as he bounced in Red's lap, moaning in ecstasy. Red's thrusts became faster and more frantic as his pleasure reached its peak. Red came first, Purple coming only a few seconds later, his cum coating both their stomachs.

Purple stood slightly after a few moments so Red could pull himself free of Purple's entrance, some cum still dripping from the tip of his cock. Purple plopped back down into the seat next to Red's before turning slightly to wrap arms tightly around him and cuddle closer.

END OF SMUT SCENE. HOPE YOU ENJOYED!

A few minutes passed in silence, the only sounds in the room being two content purrs coming from the two occupants holding each other. A sudden knock on the main door to their chambers broke them out of their daze. Purple growled at the interruption before reluctantly pushing himself up out of the tub to wrap a towel around himself and answer the door. "It's about time. Those better be my nachos!" As he opened the door, one of the ship's technicians stood before him, his antennae lowered in submission.

He bowed once before addressing Purple. "I'm terribly sorry for the disturbance, my Tallest, but I've got some information I thought you might be interested to see." he handed Purple a few papers with Irken on them.

Purple took the papers from the technician before squinting one eye at him. "Damn...So you don't have my nachos?"

The technician's antennae drooped as he began to sweat a little. "Ummm...No...My apologies, sir, but I really must insist that you look over those papers. They may hold the solution to out shortage of soldiers problem."

Purple stayed staring at him skeptically a few more moments before finally straightening up again to scan over the papers with his eyes. "So what exactly is this and where did you get it?"

The shorter Irken perked his antennae up straight at the question. "This information was sent through the terminal we still have hooked up to Irken exile, Zim's computer on Earth. A few days ago he had his computer run a full body scan as well as some DNA and blood tests. The results are in those papers."

That caught Purple's attention. "Ooohhh! Maybe he got some horrible Earth disease and is slowly dying a painful death!" Purple squeed and laughed.

The technician went to speak, lifting one finger. "Actually, sir, he's..."

He was cut off by Purple. "Silence! I'm reading!" he went back to reading, a wide, toothy grin on his face. "We've had tabs on his computer's system since the day we exiled him to Earth, hoping someday we'd get the signal he was dead so we could celebrate it. This may actually be the day!" he clapped his hands together excitedly. The excitement on his face quickly changed to shock as he read further. "Oh my...RED! Red, get out here quickly and come look at this!" he screamed from the front room.

He heard a slight mumble from the other room before Red entered the room with an irritated look on his face. He, too, had a towel wrapped around himself. "What? This better be good," he said as he came to stand next to Purple.

The technician quickly bowed his head in respect. "My Tallest." he addressed Red.

Red nodded at him before taking the papers from Purple. Purple's grin had grown much more wicked. Red's eyes went wide as he read the information on Zim. "Well, what do you know? Looks like Zim's just provided us with the answer to our little shortage problem." he smiled evilly back at Purple. Red turned back toward the other Irken. "Good work, soldier. Now go back to your station and keep track of any more information that may come through from Earth."

The technician saluted then turned to leave.

Red made his way back over to the bed as he continued to read over the papers, plopping down to spread them out and look over the details more closely. Purple closed the door and turned to walk over to the bed when there came another knock on the door. He opened it once more just to have a short service drone jump into the room. "Your nachos, my Tallest!" he smiled and saluted Purple.

Purple made a happy little squeal before taking them from the service drone. "Yay! Thanks!" he said before sending the service drone on his way. He stuffed a handful of nachos in his mouth as he walked over to the bed.

"Hey! Don't hog them!" Red said as he grabbed a handful for himself.

Purple plopped down onto the bed next to Red and looked over the papers there. "So, what do you plan to do with Zim? I guess we can't kill him now, can we? At least not yet."

Red seemed to give it some thought as he looked over the papers more and rubbed his chin. "No...I suppose not...We may want to save that for after we have the child. We can't afford to lose a possible future soldier, even if it is related to Zim." he shuddered.

Purple nodded. "Darn. I really wanted to kill him too. How do you think it happened to him anyways? Oh! Maybe he was raped!"

Red glanced back at Purple a moment before returning to the papers. "No, that doesn't sound like Zim. He would never allow something like that to happen to himself. Then again, I'm having a hard time seeing Zim forming any kind of relation with any of the inhabitants of that putrid planet. He hated that place. And the only thing he talked about whenever he called us was his hatred for that big-headed boy."

Purple's lower eyelid twitched a bit at the memory of a picture Zim had shown them of Dib. "It really was HUGE!"

Red ignored Purple and continued on. "Anyways, I don't care how it happened, just the fact that it happened. I wonder if the females of that planet would be able to conceive an Irken baby if we mated them with some of our males. They must be genetically linked somehow if Zim was able to conceive one from a male of that planet. But he wasn't raped. I'm sure of that."

Purple sighed. "Hey. I can dream, can't I? So how do you plan to test this little theory of yours?"

Red straightened up to sit on his knees. "Here's my plan. We set a course for Earth but send another Irken ahead of us to "experiment" with one of the earth females. If we get word from him that our little plan worked, then we move in to take possession of the females and Zim."

Purple looked at Red in awe. "Oh. I like that plan. I like that plan a lot. But who should we send ahead of us for this little job of yours?"

Red smiled evilly. "I've already got the perfect Irken in mind for this job. Get me Invader Bixxle."

A/N: HAHAHA! Laugh at my suckish Irken name, Bixxle! XD I just realized for this chapter I needed a name for another random Irken character in the story and somehow I came up with Bixxle. For future reference I'll just ask people to help me come up with names for extra characters. So if you wanna help, visit my journal on DA for more info and then leave a name either there, here in a review, or in a review on You don't have to but it sure would help me.

And now to thank everybody that reviewed on that last chapter.

To Apple Pornography: Your welcome for the update. I orgasm with happiness that I have the ability to make you violently orgasm just by updating and responding to you! Lol. XD Yeah, I'm a busy girl. Lots of skool work but things are finally slowing down...kind of...But I'm not even half way through my semester and I already have to start signing up for my next classes which sucks cause first I have to go see if I can get a hold of an advisor. I honestly don't think I need one but my parents always urge my brother and I to see one before choosing classes. It takes up so much time though. I already know which classes I want and need to take, damnit! Anyways, I would be more than happy to read your stories when you get them up. If you need any help with that, feel free to ask and I'll be willing to help you with that. Well thanks a ton for reading. It means a lot to me.

To Sora4President: Yeah, I tried to make that scene with Membrane not horribly awkward. Glad to here I pulled it off. And I'm happy to hear I got you hooked after only the second chapter, especially since you're not into any kind of MPreg. And I'll do my best to update for all my loyal readers and reviewers. So here's that next chapter for you. Hope you like. Hopefully, I'll have chapter 4 up tomorrow. I finished writing it today and would have had it up today if my computer would stop dying on me every three seconds. Yes, skool does suck. It's always out to get me. It just wants to destroy all mankind! Run for your lives!!! We're all going to die!

And to anybody else that reviews- Thank you all. Much love to all my reviewers!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: And the ZADR returns with chapter 4. Sorry this took me so long. I seriously was going to have this up sooner but I kind of got drunk half way through working on this. But now I'm ready to get it up and I may even have the next chapter done by tomorrow if I concentrate on it. :D And the good new is that this is the last short chapter in this story. Nothing particularly important in this chapter. Just thought I'd throw it in for fun. The next chapter is where the plot thickens. So just enjoy this chapter. I think it's cute...and angsty...but mostly cute. Angst and cuteness is just a fun little mixture I use in a lot of my stories. XD Kind of hard for me to have one without the other. Lol. Well, why don't we get started now? Chapter 4: Month 2/Cold. Disclaimer: Do I look like he with the ill-prone belly?! Don't sue me!

Dib blinked his eyes open slowly, the light coming through the window blinding him momentarily. He sat up slowly as he brought a hand up to rub at his watery eyes underneath the glasses. He looked about his room with squinted eyes a few moments, letting his eyes adjust to the lighting. It took him a few moments to realize he was completely alone in the room but when he did, his eyes shot wide open. They instantly returned to normal when he realized what time it was. It wasn't early but wasn't late either. The alarm clock on his desk said 8:00 a.m. He guessed Zim was probably downstairs getting some breakfast.

He hadn't left Zim's side since he heard of the pregnancy, even after his father had come home from work. As long as they weren't having sex, Membrane didn't really mind them sharing a bed together. That was just fine with Dib. He wasn't quite sure whether sex was such a good idea at the moment. Zim didn't seem quite up for it at the moment anyways.

Dib contemplated whether he should get out of bed and go find someone or just stay in the warm covers and try to get a few more hours of sleep. The second choice seemed to be the more inviting of the two, but he knew it would just make things ten times more difficult when he finally did decide to get out of bed; so he reluctantly rose to go downstairs. He was a little dizzy when he stood up, but it passed quickly and he was on his way. As he reached the bottom of the staircase, he could hear voices coming from the kitchen. Looked like he was the last one to wake up. He couldn't quite make out what anybody was saying, but he could hear loud laughter as he approached closer. Upon entering, he found Gaz sitting at the kitchen table, her head down in one arm and the other pounding on the table as she laughed uncontrollably. Zim was there too, doubled over on the ground laughing so hard that tears were in the corners of his eyes.

Membrane sat at the kitchen table also, smiling cheerfully. Neither Gaz nor Zim seemed to notice Dib's presence until Membrane addressed him. "Good morning, Dib." The room instantly grew quiet as Gaz picked up one of her handheld games and began playing it, smirking evilly at Dib. Zim quickly got up off the ground and took a seat at the table to continue eating some waffles he had in front of him, all the while snickering into his hand, trying hard not to laugh as he too seemed to send Dib a cruel smirk.

Dib looked back and forth from Gaz to Zim and then back to Gaz, not liking the looks they were sending him one bit. "What did I miss? What's so funny?"

Zim shook his head and tried to answer though his voice cracked a bit. "N...nothing."

Dib was thoroughly confused by now. "What? Did Gir do something stoopid again?"

Gaz shook her head. "Nope. Dad's just been telling us embarrassing stories about when you were younger."

That had Dib yelling out. "WHAT?!" his face blushed a deep shade of red thinking of every embarrassing story his father could possibly tell them.

Membrane cut in before he could say any more. "Come now, Gaz. They aren't embarrassing. Your mother didn't think so. They were her favorite memories of Dib."

She just pushed that aside. "Yeah, sure, whatever, dad. Now tell us about that time Dib was in that pre-skool play when he was 4."

Membrane took a sip of his coffee before responding. "You know, I think we taped that one. I must have a copy of it here somewhere. Would you rather watch it?"

Before Dib could object, both Zim and Gaz screamed," Yes!" in excitement and were out in the living room in a flash.

Membrane chuckled lightly to himself as he followed after them, his coffee in hand, leaving Dib standing alone in the kitchen. A minute passed before he finally made his way into the living room slowly, really wishing he had decided to stay in bed. When he got out there, Zim and Gaz were already on the couch waiting as Membrane looked through a pile of videotapes for the right one. He finally pulled one out and made a happy noise. "Aha! Found it!" he said as he stood up and inserted it into the VCR connected to the TV.

Dib was tempted to just leave the room and hide in his room for a few days until he was sure they wouldn't remember why they had even been laughing at him. But something made Dib stay. The picture on the screen showed a young Dib standing on a small stage with bright lights all around. Being taller than most of the kids in his age category, he was dressed as a tree. As the tape played, a female voice could be heard. "Look, honey. There's Dib. Oh my God, that costume is so cute on him."

The young Dib had his eyes crossed as he stared at a leaf that hung down near his nose. He tried to shake it free without moving too much since he was supposed to stay still but only made things worse as he wrinkled his nose. It was no use, however. He sneezed once, twice, and then a third time before losing his balance and falling straight off the stage onto his face. That had Dib crying as he sat up.

Then the female voice came again. "Oh dear. I think you better take the camera, honey." The picture shook a bit as the camera was passed over to someone else. Then a few moments later, a young, purple-haired woman made her way to the front of the stage and picked Dib up. She turned with Dib in her arms, smiled, and waved at the camera as she made her way back to her seat with Dib still clinging to her and crying. The video went blank after that, leaving Zim and Gaz staring at the screen in silence a moment before bursting out into laughter.

Dib wasn't at all amused by that, however. His face was more red with anger than embarrassment. Dib swiftly walked over the VCR and pulled out the tape. He turned toward his father and shook the tape at him in anger. "I thought you said you had gotten rid of all these tapes!"

Membrane didn't seem too fazed by Dib's anger. "Oh come on now, Dib. It wasn't that bad. You know, it was your mother's favorite tape of you."

That was the last straw for Dib. "That's it! I can't take it anymore! It's always mom this, mom that, mom everything with you! I'm sick of hearing it! Mom's dead and we're not so will you just drop it already and get rid of this damn tape?!" The words had left Dib's mouth faster than he could stop them. The room grew uncomfortably quiet as they all just stared at Dib. He looked a bit shocked himself that he had said that. He quickly averted his eyes to the ground. "I want to be alone."

He dropped the tape so he could wrap arms around himself and grip his arms tightly. He walked out of the room, leaving the others to watch after him. Nobody spoke. Membrane just sighed gently to himself as he bent down to pick up the tape and place it on a table next to him. "I better go talk to him."

Membrane found Dib lying in bed with his back to the door and still gripping his arms tightly. He stood in the doorway rather than walking in to talk to Dib. "This is about your mother, isn't it?"

Dib didn't move to look at Membrane. "What was your fist clue?" Dib didn't mean for it to come out as harsh as it did.

Membrane sighed and stepped into the room. "You had that dream again, didn't you?" he asked as he took a seat on the side of the bed.

Dib pushed himself up a bit and turned so he could see his father again. "A few weeks ago. I thought it had left me for good this time. Guess I was wrong."

Membrane nodded. "I'm not surprised. It was a hard loss for everyone. I'm sorry, Dib. If I had known, I would have never shown that video."

Dib looked away from his father. "I didn't mean any of what I just said. I just..." he closed his eyes. "I just want to be alone for a little while."

Membrane stood up to leave. "It's alright, Dib."

He looked out into the hallway. Zim was waiting outside, watching from a safe distance. His antennae were lowered as he waited for Membrane to leave the room. Membrane placed a reassuring hand on Dib's arm. "I'll leave you to your thoughts for a while." With that, he walked out into the hallway.

As he walked by Zim, he placed a hand on Zim's shoulder and smiled before leaving without saying a word. Zim watched after him a moment before turning back toward Dib's room. He took in a deep breath before entering. Dib was back in the same position he had been in when Membrane entered. He let out the breath before speaking up. "Dib, are you okay?"

The only response he got was a "no" from Dib. The boy didn't even turn to face Zim as he talked. "Zim, can I just be alone for a little while?"

Zim's eyes narrowed somewhat as he crossed his arms. "No." He walked forward to climb onto the bed in front of Dib so he couldn't look away from Zim.

Dib sighed as he let go of his arms so he could wrap them around Zim. "Something told me you wouldn't leave me alone."

Zim seemed to study the boy's face as he laid there staring at him. He reached out to run a hand down Dib's cheek. His skin was so warm and soft. Dib just closed his eyes and relaxed into the touch. He felt Zim brush his antennae against his face.

There was silence in the room for a long while. Dib only opened his eyes again when he heard a soft humming coming from Zim. "Hey, what's that?"

Zim stopped his humming and opened his own eyes to look at Dib. "Hmmm? What's what?"

"That tune you were humming. It sounds so familiar. What was it?" he asked again.

"Oh. I was just some stoopid song Gir made me listen to over and over again from some stoopid kids' show he likes to watch. He's gotten it stuck in my head. Some nights, he won't go to sleep unless I hum it to him first." Zim responded simply. "Why?"

"Oh." Dib whispered. "It's nothing. It's just very soothing, that's all. Would you mind humming it again?"

Zim stared at the boy, confused a bit. "Uh...sure..." He began humming it again as he buried his face in Dib's neck.

Dib let the gentle hum sooth him into a deep sleep. When Zim finished, he opened his eyes and spoke against warm skin. "Dib?" But Dib was already fast asleep. He pulled his face from Dib's neck to look at the boy's face. It didn't seem Dib was going to be waking up any time soon so he wiggled his way out of Dib's grip and left him to sleep peacefully.

Dib awoke several hours later, alone with the sun setting outside. He looked out into the hallway. The house seemed to be completely dark. As he made his way downstairs into the living room, he found Zim lying back on the couch with a blanket. He was sitting in the dark with Gir, watching some cartoon on TV. Zim looked up at Dib as he entered the room then back to the TV without saying a word.

Dib took a seat next to him and looked around. "Where is everybody else?"

Zim shrugged, not looking away from the TV. "I don't know. I think they said something about getting Chinese or something."

"Oh...Okay..." Dib said as he leaned forward to wrap arms around Zim.

Zim didn't seem to mind as he just continued watching the TV. It wasn't until Dib began to sniffle a few times that he got annoyed. When Dib began sneezing, Zim couldn't take it anymore. None too kindly, he pushed Dib off the couch onto the floor. "Go away, germy Dib-thing. You're going to get the mighty Zim sick."

Dib just laughed it off. "HA HA. Very funny, Zim."

A/N: And I end the chapter there because I can. Lol. XD Now, I know exactly what you're all thinking. "What the hell?! That has nothing to do with the plot!" Well, it was cute, right? I'm allowed to add in random cute chapters every once in a while. But I promise the plot thickens in the next chapter. I'm off to go work on it now. I've already finished about half of it and I've got an entire three-day weekend to finish the rest. I've got a bottle of red wine, a blanket, and a computer. Let's see if I can update this before the weekend is over. If not, then I'll do it next weekend. That's my Thanksgiving Break time so then I'll have at least a week to work on it. Hope you all enjoyed! Next chapter-Chapter 5: Month 3- Rape. See you soon!

And now to thank everybody that reviewed on that last chapter.

To Apple Pornography: Thanks so much for all the random noises I could turn into Irken names. I will definitely use 1 or 2 of them for the characters I need. I really like Mlarg for some reason. I don't know why. Anyways, yes the Tallest are cute little bastards, aren't they? XD I just wanna huggles Purple. Well this chapter really has nothing to do with the story. I may make a few references to it later but only really small details that nobody cares about. The next chapter is where things really get good. Aw, yes. Daydreaming and drawing are always fun to do during skool. In fact, I'm just finishing up a 7-page ZADR comic I was working on all week during skool. 8D I'll be sure to read your story as soon as you get it up. I love Mew and Mewtwo. Well, until next time. Cya! waves

To Sora4president: Yesh! Smutty RAPR goodness is always fun to write! Lol. That is spooky! Maybe I developed magical mind reading powers somehow. XD Well, as I said before, this chapter doesn't really have anything to do with the plot. I just kind of got it in my head and wrote it down. That's happens sometimes. Anyways, the next chapter is the one with the plot development. So until next time! Bye! waves

And to anybody else that reviews- Thank you all. Much love to all my reviewers!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: See! I told you all I would have an update up before the end of the weekend! It took me all day to finish this but here you have it. And we're back to longer chapters again which means it may take me a little longer to get updates posted, but the wait will be worth it. Here's where things get more interesting. The plot thickens! I'll get started now. Chapter 5: Month 3-Rape. (Yes, there is smut in this! I give warning!) Disclaimer: I own nobody except for my random Irken character, Bixxle. Heh...Bixxle...That name is funny...Don't sue me!

Dib felt as though the weeks and months were going by way too quickly. Zim was already well into his third month of pregnancy, and yet he was still as skinny as ever. Dib thought he would have at least put on a few extra pounds by now, but he was still as skinny as he had been the day he found out and told Dib. He still got sick every now and then but not nearly as much as he had been during the first two months. At least he was able to eat more and get some actual sleep.

Whenever Dib wasn't with Zim, he was usually with his father, learning everything he'd need to know about taking care of a baby and, more important, what changes in behavior to avoid when with Zim. There were so many facts and small details he had to remember, he felt as though his head would explode if he had to remember one more thing. Whenever the information became too overwhelming for Dib to handle, they'd move onto something a bit simpler to remember such as names or what things they'd need to get for the baby. Though they weren't sure exactly of the specifics for a half Irken baby. Dib was thankful for all the help, but he was kind of hoping Zim and he could come up with a name for the baby together. However, every time he even mentioned it to Zim, the Irken would either say he was too busy at the moment or find some excuse to go do something else. It was strange. He knew Zim was just avoiding the topic, but he was doing it in such a calm fashion that it made Dib uneasy.

The last thing Dib expected Zim to be in such a situation was calm. He had been freaked out the first time he had told Dib, but now he seemed to be brushing it off as though it was something he was used to by now. Dib, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck, and he wasn't even the one who would have to give birth. There was still so much he didn't know about Irkens and humans. Hell, he didn't even know how it would be physically possible for Zim to even give birth! How could Zim be so calm about the matter?!

Dib was sick of Zim's ignorance. He wanted answers and he wanted them now, no matter what the consequence. He wanted Zim to acknowledge what was going on, and he wasn't going to let Zim shy away from it or him again until he got a straight answer. He found Zim down in his father's lab again, working on his ship. Dib wasn't about to just barge in and start demanding answers. That tactic would probably just result in him getting his ass kicked, so he began with just a few simple questions. He knew he'd have to deal with it delicately and think his questions through first.

Zim didn't stop his work when Dib approached from behind. "Hi, Zim. How's the work on the ship going?" he began.

Too concentrated on what he was working on at the moment, he didn't look back at Dib as he spoke. "Fine. Could go a little better if I had my own tools, but I'm making progress. I might even have it running again in a few days."

"Well, that's good." Dib continued. "Hey, maybe while you work we can discuss names for the baby."

Zim stopped his work momentarily, sighing harshly. "I'm busy right now. I don't see why you're so obsessed with naming it. You act as though you actually want to keep it. But if you must come up with a name for it, then why don't you go talk to your father about it?"

Dib's face fell, but he wasn't about to give up. "Well, actually, I was kind of hoping we could come up with a name, together."

Zim groaned. "Fine. How about stoopid? Short, easy to remember, and it pretty much sums up how I feel about the whole situation. Are you happy now? I've got work to do." he resumed his work.

Dib sighed. "Come on, Zim. What the hell is wrong with you? Why won't you talk about this with me?" he grabbed Zim from behind so Zim would look at him.

Zim spun around quickly as he slapped Dib's hand away. "What's wrong with ME?! My question is what the hell is wrong with YOU, Dib-fucker! Why are you so obsessed with keeping it?!"

Dib let go when Zim screamed at him. "I never said I was obsessed. I'm just...trying to be optimistic about it. That's all."

That answer just made Zim angrier. "Oh, really?! I don't see anything optimistic about it! So, tell me, Dib! Do you see anything optimistic about the pain I'm going to go through?! Cause if you do, please tell me!"

That wasn't the response Dib had been expecting. "Hey! You know damn well I wasn't talking about the birthing process!"

Zim cut in. "Pfft! Birthing process?! That's cake compared to what I'll have to go through prior to it!"

Dib was about to say something but stopped suddenly. "Wait! What do you mean prior to it?"

Zim glared at the boy horribly before he finally answered. "The body adaptation is 10 times worse than the actual birthing process. Most Irken males don't even live through it, it's so painful. The ones that do, say they would have rather died than gone through that. That's why the Irken Empire stopped using males for a while."

Dib's face paled at that information. He had no idea. He got up quickly to leave without a reason why. "I gotta go." he left Zim to work on his ship some more.

Dib went to bed early that night, feeling extremely uncomfortable around Zim. The only time they even crossed paths that day after their little argument, was at dinner when everybody met in the kitchen to eat together. Both Zim and Dib were eerily quiet and Membrane couldn't figure out why. When he asked Dib if anything was wrong, Dib refused to talk about it and left in a hurry to get in bed. He didn't sleep for several hours.

His gaze was fixated on the door to his room even though he couldn't see it that well due to the fact he had taken off his glasses. After many hours of staring off into nothing, he finally closed his eyes in an attempt to fall asleep. Almost instantly after he had done so, he heard the door to his room opening. His eyes snapped open as he sat up to stare at the blurry figure entering his room. He fumbled for his glasses as he was thrown off guard by Zim's presence. He hadn't expected Zim to be in any mood to sleep with him after his earlier outburst. As a matter of fact, Zim still didn't look very happy as he entered the room. His face had the same scowl he had whenever he was in skool.

He didn't seem to be paying any attention to Dib as he moved about the room getting ready for bed. But Dib, on the other hand, couldn't take his eyes off Zim's appearance. He stared speechlessly as Zim walked from one end of the bedroom to the other, his eyes watching Zim's every move. From what Dib could tell, the only thing the Irken was wearing was an oversized red striped shirt that fell just past Zim's waist and nothing else except for a pair of socks. Zim didn't seem to notice Dib's dumbfounded gaze until he stood in front of a full body length mirror to smooth back his antennae a bit. He turned back to Dib to give him a narrow-eyed stare. "What?" he asked in a slight growl. "Stop staring at me like a mindless idiot, human."

Dib, suddenly seeming to snap back to reality, quickly turned to look down at the covers, a blush forming on his face. "It's no...nothing. I just hope you haven't been walking around the house too long like that."

Zim's antennae instantly pricked up and he looked down to what he was wearing. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing? Zim looks just fine!"

Dib didn't look up as he began playing with the covers. "I never said there was anything WRONG with it. What I mean is, I hope my dad didn't see you like that. It might give him the wrong idea and accidentally give him a heart attack."

Zim gave Dib an unimpressed look. "Why? It's not like he doesn't already know we're sleeping together."

Dib closed his eyes and sighed. "That's besides the point, Zim. It doesn't make him any less disapproving of the fact. And I'd prefer to keep what we do in bed private. I'd rather not have my dad getting any ideas, even if we really aren't doing anything. It just makes things easier that way."

Zim snapped at Dib almost a second after he said that. "Well, who ever said my dressing like this should give anybody the idea I was planning to sleep with you?! Maybe it's just comfortable and I enjoy sleeping in this!"

Dib shook his head and sighed once more. "I never said...oh, never mind! Let's just go to bed." Dib removed his glasses and turned onto his side to sleep.

But Zim didn't want to end this conversation there. "No! I want to know what you were going to say, Dib-stink! If you don't want me wearing this then just say it! Cause I honestly could care less about what your father thinks. You humans really do care too much about what others think of you. Especially you, Dib. Always trying to please everybody so they'll accept you. Well newsflash, Dib! You can go ahead and keep trying to please your daddy so he'll give you the attention you shouldn't have to work for, but don't think for one second I'm going to help you gain any respect from somebody who doesn't even accept you for who you are! He doesn't deserve it!"

Dib sat up slowly, a sad look on his face. "Oh, come on, Zim. He wasn't that bad. It's not that he didn't care for me, he just..."

Zim cut in. "...called you crazy your entire life, put you in an asylum, and even now, disapproves of your way of life! He doesn't even trust me! And you expect me to trust HIM and lower myself down to your level just to please him! Zim will do no such thing!"

Every word coming from the alien's mouth had his temper rising to the point that he just wanted to scream and yell his frustration at the other. But he didn't. The words hurt too much because he knew they were true. All he wanted in that moment was for this conversation to end. He didn't bother arguing back. "You're right. You're absolutely right. I'm sorry. I guess that's a habit I just have to learn to get over. Now, can we just go back to sleep?"

Zim's glare seemed to soften up just a bit as he pretended to think about that a moment. "No. No, I don't think so. I still haven't gotten my revenge on you for earlier. You didn't think I'd just let you get away with what you said, did you?" he smirked evilly at Dib.

Dib's eyes widened at Zim's words. He watched as the Irken slinked closer. "Zim, what are you-? I'm sorry, okay. I didn't mean what I said earlier."

Zim's grin grew just that much wider. "Awww. Apology accepted, Dib-stink, but it really would be no fun if I didn't follow through with my punishment. Now, hold still." he purred seductively as he pounced on top of Dib.

Dib let out a startled gasp as Zim pinned him down to the bed, not at all amused. "What are you doing? Stop it. I said I was sorry." he began to struggle a bit.

Zim brought his mouth down to Dib's neck and kissed it gently. "Yes, yes. I know you are. But now I'm curious. I you think your father would have a heart attack from me just wearing this, I wonder what would happen if I left a few marks on you." He dragged his tongue across the skin on Dib's neck as he tightened his grip on Dib's wrists.

Dib tensed up. "Y...you wouldn't, would you?"

Dib couldn't recall one time Zim hadn't been gentle with him when having sex. He nibbled Dib's skin every once in a while but never did anything to leave any noticeable marks on Dib's skin.

He struggled more when he felt teeth grazing his neck, pleading with the alien to stop. "Zim, please. Don't do this. Don't..." his voice hitched in the back of his throat suddenly as he felt Zim bite down.

It wasn't hard enough to break the skin or even cause any harm, but Dib freaked out nonetheless. With more force than he meant to use, he managed to break free from Zim's grip and push the other off of him fairly hard. "STOP!" he accidentally screamed as he brought a hand up to his neck, just knowing there had to be a mark there now.

Zim hadn't been expecting quite that reaction from Dib. He had only been playing around, screwing around with Dib's mind. The rough push had surprised him to say the very least. His landing had been less graceful than he would have liked. He had been shoved off the bed and one of the first things to hit the ground was his head. He blinked his eyes open at Dib, a look of shock on his face at what Dib had just done.

Dib also looked a bit surprised as he looked down on Zim. A moment of silence passed before Zim finally sat up rubbing his head. Dib instantly moved to get out of bed and help Zim. "Zim, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...here, let me help-."

Zim slowly got to his feet, still holding his sore head. Before Dib could get completely out of bed, he pushed Dib back in with one hand and moved to the other side of the bed without saying a word. He climbed in on his side and turned so he was facing the window and away from Dib. Dib watched Zim intently as he got into bed. He reached out a hand to place on Zim's arm. "Zim, are you going to be okay?"

The instant Dib touched him, Zim shrugged Dib's hand away. "Don't touch me. Just go to sleep."

Dib retracted his hand back to his chest, wincing a bit at that response. "O...okay..." he settled back into the bed and turned so he also was facing away from Zim. He closed his eyes and tried to will himself to sleep. Zim, on the other hand, stayed awake long into the night, just staring out the window at the stars in the sky.

MEANWHILE, OUT IN SPACE ORBITING ABOVE EARTH.

An Irken ship prepared to enter the Earth's atmosphere. The Irken sitting behind the controls of the ship was none other than Bixxle. Bixxle was one of the Tallests' best invaders and had always been completely loyal to them no matter what the mission. His newest mission was to go ahead of the Massive and mate with one of the Earth females to see how compatible they were with Irkens. If it worked, he was to contact the Tallest immediately.

The mission seemed simple enough. Stay under cover a few weeks, get confirmation that the plan had worked, then return to the Massive. He already knew exactly what he was going to do. He had been instructed to find Zim first and confirm that their data was correct, then find an Earth female to perform his "experiment" on.

He typed in the coordinates of Zim's whereabouts. He had a small device that was able to pick up any being using a PAK and in this case, Zim was the only one with that kind of technology. As soon as Zim was located, he set a course for Earth. As the hours passed and he drew closer and closer to his destination, he could feel his excitement growing. He already knew he was going to enjoy this mission from the start. It was going to be easy and provide him with some time for rest and relaxation, a luxury he rarely had time for nowadays.

His crimson eyes scanned the sky outside with anticipation. He was close. He could feel it in his skin. The clouds surrounding the upper atmosphere were becoming less visible as he could see the ground below approaching fast. Before he knew it, he could see the neighborhood below coming into view.

His sensors were locked on Zim's location and he was eager to begin his work. He had no trouble finding a fairly well hidden place not far from the Membranes' summer household to park his ship. It was close enough that he could keep track of Zim easily but far enough away from civilization that he wouldn't have to deal with too many of the human inhabitants. It was dark when he landed and he was grateful for that. It meant he could start his work sooner than later. It would be dangerous to attempt anything during the day.

With a little effort, he managed to install the locating chip from his locating device straight into his PAK so his spider legs could get him there in no time. Gathering everything he expected he'd be needing for the first half of his mission into his PAK, he took off into the nigh to find Zim. It didn't take long to find Zim at all. He reached the house in less than 45 minutes and easily found and accessible entrance. With great ease, he managed to climb the side of the house with his spider legs and determine exactly which room Zim was in.

He could see Zim through the window, sound asleep. He smirked when he saw how vulnerable the Irken looked at that moment. Using his spider legs to undo the lock on Dib's window, he stealthily slipped into the darkened room, taking cover in the shadows just in case one of them woke up. The moonlight glistened off his blood colored eyes as he looked down upon the sleeping Irken. Zim had at some point shifted in his sleep so he was now curled up tightly against Dib's body, his head now resting on Dib's chest, tucked gently under Dib's chin. Dib was laying flat on his back, breathing lightly against Zim's antennae.

Retrieving a small scanning device from his PAK, he stood back to activate it. There was a small beep then what sounded like it charging up. As he waited for the device in his hand to completely charge, he studied the two lying in bed together, especially Dib. 'This must be the human Zim let dominate him. Ugh! These humans are so ugly!' he thought to himself and shuddered.

There came another small beep, breaking him from his thoughts. As silently as possible, he moved to stand in front of the bed. Taking the scanner, he held it out about where Zim's middle would be. He pressed a small button on the side of it, a sudden flash lighting up the room momentarily before an image appeared on the small screen of the device. Bixxle studied the image a moment. 'Well, there's definitely something there.' he stored the scanner back in his PAK before leaving the room to look around the rest of the house. Perhaps he could find some other useful information that would help his mission go even smoother.

He checked several of the other rooms upstairs, finding nothing until he stumbled into Membrane's room. Membrane was fast asleep in his bed, a bit of paperwork surrounding the covers. Bixxle gave him a disgusted look. 'Damn. The males of this species really are ugly. I really hope the females are better looking.' he thought to himself before leaving the room completely.

He came across one final room he wanted to check out before leaving the house completely. It seemed as thought there was nothing useful anywhere in this house but he checked nonetheless. What he found beyond the door, however, would turn out to be more helpful than he originally thought. Cautiously, he entered.

Dib sat up in bed, blinking his eyes halfway open. Slowly, he shifted to sit on the side of the bed, removing the covers and mumbling to himself under his breath. "Shouldn't have had that soda before bed..." he whispered to himself groggily, his mind still in a hazy daze.

Zim also shifted about, whining about the sudden loss of his current source of heat. Reluctantly, he forced his eyes open slightly and pushed himself up with one arm. Rubbing one of his eyes tiredly, he addressed the still half-asleep human sitting on the side of the bed. "Where are you going?"

Dib yawned and stretched once before answering. "Bathroom. Drank a huge soda before bed."

Zim simply buried his face back into a pillow, his antennae twitching a bit before settling back at the side of his head. "Whatever..." he mumbled as sleep began to take him over again.

Dib stood up to leave but stopped and looked back at Zim. "Listen, Zim. I'm really sorry about what happened earlier. Are you still mad at me?"

Zim didn't move to look up though he lifted one antenna to at least acknowledge the fact that he was listening to Dib. A moment passed in silence before a sigh could be heard coming form the Irken. "No...I shouldn't have been teasing you like that." The truth was, he hadn't been at all mad at Dib. Shocked, yes, and perhaps even a little bit scared Dib would hurt him.

The words were said so lowly that they did little to help Dib's uneasiness. Still feeling slightly uncomfortable, Dib left the room in a hurry to use the bathroom.

Meanwhile, back with Bixxle, the Irken Invader was entering the most forbidden room in the house, a room so horrible that nobody usually came out alive. Gaz's room. He expected to just come across more useless junk but was greeted by pitch-black nothingness. The window in her room had been blocked off, discouraging any light from entering. Bixxle shivered from the feeling the room gave him but moved in still. He wasn't going to let a little bit of darkness stop him.

Pulling out a small flashlight from his PAK, he shined it in the room, the first sight to greet his eyes being a sleeping Gaz. Instantly his antennae pricked up as he stepped forward to get a better look. The Tallest hadn't mentioned anything about a female being with Zim. It didn't matter. Perhaps this mission would be even easier than he had originally thought. This was perfect. He could kill two birds with one stone. Now he wouldn't have to go searching for another Earth female.

He shined the flashlight straight on Gaz to get a better look at his prize. She had pale skin that seemed to shine even brighter with the bright light illuminating it. Her purple hair fell just past her shoulders and was slightly curled at the ends. And even under the covers, he could see she had a nearly perfect figure underneath. For a human, she was a rather lovely piece of work. He could already feel himself slightly turned on by her appearance.

He nearly jumped out of his skin, however, when she shifted suddenly. Her amber eyes opened slowly, causing Bixxle to drop the flashlight to the ground where it rolled under the bed. He jumped back quickly as the room returned to complete darkness. Gaz had already sensed his presence, however. "What the...? Who the hell is in here?" she said as she searched blindly for her window. Upon finding it, she pushed the curtains aside to let in at least a little light.

Bixxle stayed far back, hiding in the shadows the best he could. But it was no use. Gaz could still make out the Irken though not well enough. "Zim? It that you? What the hell are you doing in my room?! I'll give you 5 seconds to get out before I kick your ass! ONE! TWO! THR-!" She was cut off suddenly.

Bixxle had lunged at her with his spider legs, clapping a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. How dare she compare him to Zim?! He hadn't planned on doing it this way. He was going to just drug her, but she had pushed him over the edge. He wanted her to realize the consequences of what she had just said.

He pinned her down tightly to the bed, his spider legs digging into her skin. Using two spider legs to hoist himself off the ground, he came to hover right over her. He leered menacingly at her as he brought himself to eye level with her. Her cold glare of hatred seemed to want to pierce into his skull at that moment. He met her glare head on with one of his own, his blood red eyes holding a kind of sick amusement to them.

GRAPHIC RAPE SCENE STARTS HERE. NO LIKEY, NO LOOKEY! ENJOY!

He brought his free hand down to grazed one claw down her front, a sick smile forming on his face. Her eyes seemed to widen as she realized exactly what was going on. She suddenly began thrashing about in an attempt to break free but only managed to cut her wrists deeper with sharp edges of the spider legs. Bixxle only leaned in closer to whisper into one of her ears. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, my lovely little flower. We wouldn't want that pretty little body of yours getting too marked up. Not that it's gonna stay that way for long."

Gaz's breathing grew haggard as her struggling did little to help her. She could feel the blood pooling at her wrists and dripping down her arms but she didn't dare look away as Bixxle drew still closer. Her thrashing about had made her seem more like an Irken female than an Earth female, making his arousal even stronger. Naturally, Irken females were known for being violent, especially while mating. It made Bixxle want to rip away her clothes and force himself into her, but he controlled his urges. It would be much more fun and rewarding if he made her squirm a bit first.

Gaz did indeed squirm when she felt his hand rest at the bottom of her nightshirt. She thought she would be sick when she felt his hand travel up her side underneath the shirt and even more so when he grazed his teeth along her neck and down to her shoulder. He slid part of her shirt down off her shoulder so he could get at more skin before finally just ripping the top of her shirt away to reveal plump, warm breasts. Gaz shuddered and tried to break free once more as Bixxle seemed to study the top half of her body. He skin may have been even paler here than on her face. Otherwise, she looked just like an Irken except for the very tips of her breast.

Bixxle studied her nipples curiously a moment before bringing a hand down to cup one of them and run and thumb over the nub there. It instantly hardened, making her gasp in a breath through Bixxle's hand. Her skin was so much warmer than an Irken's and he loved it. He wanted to taste it, run his tongue across the smooth surface of it. Bringing his mouth down to her skin, he instantly began trailing his tongue down her neck and chest until he had come across one of her nipples. He took it into his mouth and began suckling on it until if was full hard then he moved to the other one to do the same.

Gaz squirmed about uncomfortably some more, jumping when she felt a cool hand sliding into her panties. She immediately arched her back when he began to stroke her with one finger. Tears of anger were brimming at the sides of her eyes as she glared such a hatred filled glare at him, that he may have well dropped dead were looks able to kill. He was becoming impatient now, just wanting to relieve his aching member since he had made her squirm enough for one night.

He ripped away her panties aggressively before undoing his own uniform pants to produce his now hard member. Completely exposed, Gaz began thrashing even more violently, not caring how much the spider legs ripped into her flesh. Bixxle actually had to use another spider leg to restrain her more. He positioned himself in front of her on the bed, pressing the tip of his member to her entrance. She gasped and her eyes went wide with horror. This couldn't be happening. How the hell was this happening?! It had to be a bad dream, as nightmare.

He forced his way inside of her with one quick thrust, completely sheathing himself in unbelievable warmth. Gaz had cried out in pain, her eyes clenched tightly closed as the tears just kept coming and coming. The pain was enough to let her know she definitely wasn't dreaming. This was all real and all she wanted to do in that moment was die. Either that, or kill who she thought was Zim. But all she could do was cry. Cry until it all ended. Her voice had been muffled by Bixxle's hand and there was no way to cry out for help.

Bixxle moaned in absolute ecstasy. He couldn't recall ever having sex this good. Somehow, the feeling was different from the feeling he had gotten in the past having sex with willing Irken females. Although small and tight, his intrusion had been fairly simple. And the warmth! These humans gave off so much heat. Perhaps that was why Zim had suddenly grown so attached to a human.

He gave a few more strong thrusts before burying his seed as deep inside her as possible. Now all he had to do was sit and wait.

END GRAPHIC RAPE SCENE HERE. HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED!

Gaz was going to be sick. She just knew it. Bixxle pulled out of her and zipped up his pants. She wasn't sure how but in a flash he was gone, leaving her sitting up in bed, panting. The way he had left had her wondering whether she may have just imagined the while thing, but her still ripped up clothes and bloodied wrists and legs told her otherwise. And the pain! The pain was too real to be a hallucination. Without even knowing she had done so, she screamed before becoming violently ill in a trash bin she had near her bed.

Dib flushed the toilet and walked over to the sink to wash his hands. He looked up in the mirror as he was finishing drying them off. He could see the bite mark Zim had left on his neck and he cursed. "Damnit, Zim." he said as he brought two fingers up to gently touch it.

It was at that moment that he heard an almost inhuman scream ripping through the darkened house. He jumped instantly and ran into the hall. It had come from Gaz's room, he was sure. He ran as quickly as he could in the dark towards Gaz's room. He knew he couldn't have been the only one who had heard that. As he suspected, both he and Membrane reached the entrance to her room at the same time, Zim following closely behind with a blanket around himself.

Membrane grabbed Dib by the shoulders. "Dib, what was that?!"

Dib could only stutter out a response. "I...I don't know. But it ca...came from Gaz's room."

Without knocking, they both burst through the door just to come face to face with the sight of Gaz huddled on the ground next to her bed. Her clothes were in shreds and she looked absolutely traumatized. She was crying and mumbling something to herself as she gripped her arms tightly.

Membrane wasted not time in making his way over to her side. Dib, however, was frozen in his spot a moment. He never dreamt he'd ever see Gaz in such a state of disarray. Membrane instantly wrapped protective arms around her to hold her tightly. She clung to him but otherwise seemed in a daze. "I'll kill him. I'll kill him! I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL HIM!" she screamed.

None of this made sense to him as he tried to calm her down. "Gaz, darling. Please. Tell me what happened. I want to help."

All she could get out at first was one word however before finally answering. "Ra...Rape...He raped me...HE RAPED ME! THAT BASTARD FUCKING RAPED ME!"

Those words had Membrane's face paling more than it already was. "Wh...What?!" He gently pulled Gaz away so she could look him in the eyes. "Who, Gaz?! WHO?! Who did this to you?!"

She was about to answer when she noticed Zim standing behind Dib. A terrified look came to her face as she realized it could all happen again very easily, what with those spider legs. With a shaking finger, she pointed at Zim. "STAY THE FUCK AWAY, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!!"

Both Dib and Membrane turned to look at Zim, who looked shocked and confused. "Zim, shat is she talking about?" Dib asked.

Zim looked thoroughly confused. "How the hell should I know?!"

Gaz broke in as soon as he said that. "IT WAS HIM! HE CAME INTO MY ROOM AND RAPED ME!"

"WHAT?!" Zim nearly screeched. "ZIM DID NO SUCH THING!"

Gaz argued back. "OH YEAH?! THEN WHY WAS MY RAPER IRKEN?! I DON'T KNOW ANY HUMANS WITH ANTENNAE, BLOOD RED EYES, AND SPIDERLEGS! AND THERE'S NO WAY THERE ARE ANY OTHER IRKENS ON THIS PLANET!"

Zim didn't know how to respond to that. As if just noticing, Membrane pulled one of Gaz's wrists up to examine it. "Gaz, what happened to your wrists? Did your raper do this also?"

Gaz buried her face back in her father's chest and nodded as she cried even more now. Membrane held her close again as he tucked her head under his chin, watching her the entire time. "I see." He then looked up at Zim with stern eyes. "Zim, I'll ask this once. That you'll please leave our presence until we have this figured out. It'd be the best thing for Gaz at the moment. Please."

Zim couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What?! Why?! I'm telling you, I didn't do anything! Just ask Dib! I've been in bed with him all night!"

Dib, who had been silent the entire time, unable to take his eyes off his sister, looked up suddenly. "It's true. He has been in bed with me all night. I mean, except for the time I was in the bathroom, but I was only gone a few minutes."

Membrane seemed to give Dib a long, hard stare before noticing something. "Dib, what is that on your neck?"

Dib instantly slapped a hand over the mark and blushed a deep red. "N...nothing. It's just a scratch."

Membrane didn't buy that for a second. He got up off the ground and moved Dib's hand away to examine it closer. "Looks more like bite marks to me." He touched it and Dib winced. Membrane looked back up at Zim, his eyes serious. "I'm sorry, Dib. But until things get straightened out, I'm not sure if I can fully trust Zim, and I don't want to take any more chances. I think it would be best if he stayed in the guest room for a while with constant surveillance."

Zim's jaw nearly dropped to the ground when Membrane said that. He quickly turned back toward Dib with pleading eyes. "DIB! DO SOMETHING! You know I would never do that! I'm innocent!"

Dib felt trapped as he looked back and forth between Zim and his father. Finally, his gaze landed on Gaz. As much as he wanted to believe Zim, he knew his sister would never lie about something like this. He finally made up his mind, looking away to the ground. He couldn't leave Gaz with her in this condition. "Maybe...it would be best...if you, you know...left for a while, Zim. Spend a few days in the guest room until we sort things out...okay?" he brought his eyes up to look at Zim.

Zim's mouth stood agape as he stared at Dib. He couldn't believe Dib was taking his father's side. Without so much as another word, he turned and left the room in a hurry. He felt more hurt than he ever had before. The Dib didn't trust him and neither did anybody else.

Dib wanted to follow after him but now wasn't the time to leave Gaz. He heard the door to the guest room slamming shut and immediately felt horrible.

Zim locked the door behind him before collapsing in a heap on the bed to cry himself back to sleep.

A/N: Meh...It's 3:00 in the morning and I've been typing this since 8:30. And to top it off, I spent all day writing this chapter out. You people better be happy I got this up so soon. I'll try to have the next update up as soon as possible but it may not be up until at least next weekend. Well, anyways. Hope you enjoyed this chapter of Near Misses. The next chapter is Chapter 6: Vengeance. Cya then!

And now to thank everybody that reviewed on that last chapter.

To Apple Pornography: Lol. Trust me, I know the feeling so that's why I mention my reviewers at the end of each chapter. It's just my way of saying thanks for reading and putting up with my horrible grammar and spelling mistakes. XD Yay! I'm glad to hear I accomplished my goal of making Zim cute! Even if the chapter was random and it puts Zim somewhat out of character. Oh well, the cuteness, more than makes up for it. Well, let me know when you get your first story up so I can read it. And yes there are such things as UFOs! I see them all the time! I swear to God there are freaking aliens out there. A lot of people I know don't believe me though. They all think I'm just schizophrenic! (God, did I spell that totally wrong?! I'm too lazy to go check right now! XD) But that doesn't change the fact that there are aliens out there!!! Well, you'll have to wait another chapter or two before Zim gets into space. But he will get there. You'll see.

To Sora4President: I knew it! See! Somebody was bound to say that! XD And yay for accomplishing my goal of making Zim cute and mixing cute with angst! does happy dance Yay! Rum! Yesh! Drinking helps me think sometimes...or was that forget? I forget, I've been drinking. XD

To Starry Eyed Escapist: Yay! A new reviewer! Thanks so much for checking out my story. Your comment really made my day! Thanks for loving my brain and it's an honor to hear I can actually inspire someone. 8D Unless aliens come down to Earth and vaporize my body, I think I'll continue to exist. XD

And to anybody else that reviews- Thank you all. Much love to all my reviewers!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Pelted with stones ALL RIGHT! ALL RIGHT! I'M SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! DX I've been so swamped with homework these past couple of days and had to hardest time writing the ending to this chapter. I literally had to write it three times before I was even slightly happy with it. The rest of the chapter was fine though. Don't worry, people. The next chapter won't take as long to post. I'm not going to let skool get in the way as much anymore. I cracked yesterday at skool and decided I wasn't going to stress about skool work anymore. Have you ever worked on a huge project just to find out at 2 in the morning you did it completely wrong? Well, that's kind of what happened to me. 2/3 of a psychology project I was working on, I did completely wrong. I was supposed to turn in three papers and only ended up turning in 2. I know I completely failed the assignment but I don't care anymore. I want to be happy and if things continue to get worse, I'm just gonna laugh my ass off about it, go to the bank, take out all my money, and fly down to Florida to be with my girlfriend. In fact, I just lost my job today so I may do just that soon. My boss is closing down her shop this week so I need to find a new job. I have one waiting but it doesn't open until January or February. Yep, I'm pretty screwed but I'm honestly perfectly happy right now and I'm not even drunk!...yet...Maybe later tonight. Lol. XD Anyways, that's enough of my ranting. Let's just get started now. Disclaimer: I own nothing and nobody. Don't sue me! Chapter 6: Vengeance. Enjoy! Oh! And there's smut in this chapter. I give warning.

2 weeks. It had been 2 weeks since Gaz had been raped, and still nothing had been resolved. Zim sat in the same position he had been in since day 1. He sat in a chair next to the window of the guest room, his head buried in his arms on the windowsill. His antennae hung limply at the sides of his head as he stared out the window with sad eyes. The only reason he was even staying in that room was because he was afraid Membrane would turn him in to the Earth authorities if he left. As the days went by, however, he was beginning to think that perhaps being turned in would be better than staying in this room all day and night. He guessed Membrane just wanted to keep an eye on him.

If he left the house to go back to his base, Membrane would always have that fear that he could easily sneak back and rape Gaz again, not that he cared. He knew he hadn't done it. What surprised him was that Dib didn't. How could the human not believe him? His trust for Dib had been shattered, and he just wanted to die now. Dib had been the only thing he had left on this putrid planet, and now it seemed the Irken Empire had somehow managed to take even that away from him. This fact brought up many other different questions that had also been running through his head continually. How the hell could there be another Irken on Earth? How had they found him? Why had they gone after Gaz? But the biggest questions were what scared him the most. Was that Irken still out there and would he be back for more and did the Tallest know he was with smeet?

Zim shuddered just thinking about it. He knew the dangers of them knowing and feared the worst. But there was nothing he could do about it now. All he could do was wait anxiously for the worst to happen.

He didn't turn when the door opened. He already knew it was Dib, and he didn't want to see Dib's face. It hurt too much. He hadn't even spoken to Dib in days. No matter how many times Dib tried to make some kind of conversation with him, he refused to talk. There was nothing he could say. Dib had already made up his mind and chosen to take his father's side. Anything he said to try to change Dib's mind, he thought, was pointless.

He felt so stoopid for ever having allowed himself to get so close to the human, his worst enemy even! Dib was just coming in to give him his food, he knew. But no matter what Dib brought him, he refused to eat. He was too depressed to eat. All he did was stare out that window, ignoring everything else around him.

Zim was right. Dib was coming in to drop off some food. As he set down the tray of food he had on the bed, he sighed. Zim hadn't eaten again. The waffles he had brought in earlier that morning were sitting right where he had left them, untouched. He was beginning to worry Zim was trying to starve himself to death. It also had him worrying about the baby. Despite Zim's lack of eating, he could finally make out the tiniest of bulges on Zim's lower stomach. But it didn't seem Zim would be getting any bigger than that if he didn't start eating soon.

He knew he wasn't going to get Zim to eat by talking, but he really had no idea what else to do. He felt horrible about this whole thing. He had desperately been trying to think of any explanation that could prove Zim's innocence. Perhaps another Irken had been exiled to Earth. But that still didn't explain how they had found Zim and why they had raped Gaz. Nothing made sense. He had been able to convince his father not to put surveillance cameras in Zim's room, but that was about it. He couldn't make his father believe Zim hadn't done it.

The day after the incident, Dib could see in Zim's face that he was telling the truth. He only wished he had seen it sooner. Now he couldn't get Membrane or Zim to believe him.

Slowly, he came to stand next to the window in front of Zim. Zim didn't move or look at him. Dib gave the Irken a long, sad stare before reaching out to press a hand to his forehead and then run it down to stroke his cheek gently. Zim didn't look well at all. His skin was cold and pale. A little surprised that Zim hadn't snapped at him or tried to move away, Dib began to stroke Zim's cheek gently with his thumb. The lack of response had him worried. Finally, he spoke in the quietest of whispers. "Zim. You can't keep this up. You'll get sick if you don't start eating soon or worse." he felt his heart breaking just thinking of what would happen if Zim continued to refuse all the food he brought the Irken. "Please. If not for me, then do it for the baby at least. I know you don't care for it that much but still...it deserves a chance to live."

Dib moved his hand up a bit to stroke one of Zim's antennae. The touch to Zim's antennae had him closing his eyes and tilting his head more to the side. Whether he did that to hide or encourage more touch was unknown to Dib, however. So he just continued his stroking of the sensitive appendage in hopes of eliciting some kind of response from the other. After several minutes of silence, he finally pulled away to leave the room. Just as he reached the door, however, Zim spoke. "Zim never said..."

The words had Dib spinning around suddenly in surprise. "What?"

He looked at the hunched over Irken as he sat up slowly. "Zim never said he didn't care." Those words had Dib making his way back over to Zim again. "Zim is just...scared." he brought his eyes up to meet Dib's.

Dib reached a hand out to Zim's face again. "What's there to be afraid of? I mean, I know having a baby can be kind of scary but up until now, you haven't seemed all that worried to me."

"The pain." Zim's eyes went wide with fear. "Losing the baby. Losing you. No, wait. I already lost you."

Dib knelt down next to Zim so he could study the Irken's face better. "What do you mean, you've already lost me? You haven't lost me. I'm still right here with you and I have no plans of leaving anytime soon. Everything will be fine. The only way you're losing that baby is if you don't start eating soon. And as for the pain, how do you know it hurts as bad as the others say? Maybe they're just over exaggerating. You act as though you've been through all this before."

Dib's words didn't really help Zim calm down all that much. "Oh, it hurts, Dib. Trust me. I've ummm...seen it before. And how do you know everything will be fine?! That's just what they all say. They promise they'll never leave you, but the second something goes wrong, they abandon you to live the rest of your life all alone, just saying they did it to protect you and all kinds of other bullshit."

Dib just sighed and shook his head. "Wait a second, Zim. You stopped making sense about three sentences back. I think you've been watching way too much T.V. Zim, no matter what happens, I'm not leaving you. That's a promise."

Zim's face fell as his eyes dropped to the ground. "You've already made one promise you couldn't keep." he barely whispered.

Dib frowned at that and sighed. "Oh, Zim..." he pressed his forehead to the Irken's and wrapped comforting arms around him loosely.

Zim leaned more into Dib's arms, enjoying the warmth of the other's body. This was what he needed. This comfort. This security. He let out a breath against Dib's bangs before smirking and laughing bitterly. "Heh...Your father would kill you if he knew you were in here cuddling up to the Irken he thinks raped his daughter."

Dib gave an amused laugh of his own and smiled. "Like I'd let him!"

Zim smiled and closed his eyes. "Your father doesn't want you near me."

Dib leaned in more to brush his lips against Zim's before pulling away to breath warm air against them. "It doesn't matter what he wants. I want to be near you. I need to be near you."

He moved in to kiss Zim again but stopped a few centimeters from Zim's lips when he heard his father's voice breaking the silence in the room. "Dib! We're home!" he called from some other room in the house. Dib let out a slightly annoyed sound.

Zim's face fell again. "You better go before you get caught."

Dib stood up, one hand still on Zim's arm. Leaning forward once more, he placed a quick kiss on Zim's forehead before leaving the room. "I'll be right back. At least try to eat something while I'm gone. I brought you some doughnuts and toast this time."

Zim simply nodded his head lightly and watched Dib as he left the room.

As Dib made his way down the stairs, Gaz started making her way up them. "How did things g-?"

"Just shut the fuck up, Dib!" Gaz screamed as she shoved past him to go up to her room. The sound of her slamming her door could be heard a few seconds later.

Dib turned back to face his father. "I take it things didn't go all that well." he said as Membrane turned to hang up his and Gaz's coats.

"Not really. Dib, I think we need to have a talk." he said as he turned back to face Dib.

Dib already knew what his father was going to say but nodded anyways.

"Dib, I tried to trust him, I really did. But now we've got a problem. The doctor says Gaz is pregnant. That's where I draw the line. I don't want to take any more chances. I'm only thinking about your safety. I want Zim to leave. I think it'd be best for all of us if he returned to his base, or space, or wherever he came from. I just can't trust him after what happened to your sister. I'm sorry, Dib." Dib could feel his temper rising with each word out of Membrane's mouth.

He snapped as soon as Membrane had finished. "Dad! Zim didn't do it! He would never! And I can't just abandon him! In case you've forgotten, Gaz isn't the only one who's pregnant! He needs me to help him through this! Even if you won't, I will!"

Unlike most parents that would have probably yelled back, Membrane remained calm but serious. "Are you saying you are going to choose to help him over your own sister?"

Dib brought his eyes up to meet Membrane's. "I never said that, but...just know that if you kick Zim out, you're kicking me out too. I promised not to leave him and I intend to keep that promise, even if it means leaving you guys. But at least then, Gaz will still have you to help her. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have something to check up on." he said and left the room before Membrane could say anymore.

Membrane simply watched after him, sighing as soon as Dib had left the room.

Dib threw open the door to the guests room, instantly smacking right into Zim. The impact of the door sent Zim to the ground in a daze. Dib brought his hands up to his mouth and gasped. "Oh, God, Zim! I didn't see you there! I'm so sorry! I was just coming in to see if you ate or not."

Zim pushed himself up into a sitting position and rubbed his head before shaking it a few times. "It's fine. I wasn't expecting you to come back in so soon. Well, I did manage to eat a little, but then I got nauseated so I stopped. But I feel better now that you're here."

Dib smiled and pulled the Irken to his feet, glad that Zim had actually eaten. "That's good to hear, Zim. I really was starting to worry about you. I thought I was going to have to hold you down and make you eat."

SMUT SCENE STARTS HERE! NO LIKEY! NO LOOKEY! ENJOY!

Zim let out an amused laugh. "You can't make Zim do anything, human."

"Wanna bet?" Dib smirked before leaning forward to capture the Irken's lips in a deep kiss. Zim instantly pressed his body as close to the human's as he possibly could, wrapping arms around Dib's back.

Dib dived deep into the alien's mouth before pulling back suddenly, panting. "Wait. Let me just..." he turned to lock the door. He turned back toward Zim, smiling "Just so you know, I didn't do that because I care whether my dad knows what we're doing anymore. I just still prefer privacy and would rather not have anybody interrupting us."

The Irken smiled slyly at him. "Well, then, I like the way you think."

Dib just laughed at that. "Now, where were we?"

Zim gave him a big toothy grin. "Here." he said as he roughly pressed his lips to Dib's again.

Dib let out a muffled sound as Zim slithered his snake like tongue across Dib's teeth before forcing it further into his mouth."Mmmmff..."

Zim instantly clung to Dib with both his arms and legs like a koala. Dib wrapped his own arms around Zim tightly for extra support as he lifted the Irken up to carry him over to the bed. He was careful as he set Zim down on the bed, climbing on with him to attack the alien's mouth with passionate kisses. Zim brought his hands up to grab handfuls of Dib's raven black hair so he could keep Dib there. He loved the taste of Dib's mouth and couldn't get enough of it. Dib allowed Zim to explore his mouth with his tongue a while before he had to pull back to catch his breath. Zim pouted when he lost control of the Dib's mouth and instantly tried to pull him back in for another kiss but could only manage to capture Dib's bottom lip in his mouth. Growling impatiently, he began tugging lightly at Dib's bottom lip with his mouth.

Dib complied readily, tugging at Zim's clothes in the process. Zim made attempts to pull his shirt off without breaking their kiss but let out a frustrated sound when he couldn't. Reluctantly, he broke the kiss so he could sit up and pull his shirt off quickly. In a matter of seconds, they were locked in another long lasting kiss. Thankfully, getting his pants off wasn't as troublesome as getting his shirt off had been. Dib's hands fumbled a bit as he worked to undo the Irken's uniform pants. Once done, he pulled them down as far as he could so Zim could kick them off the rest of the way.

Starting at Zim's hips, he ran his hands back up the Irken's sides, the cool texture of Zim's skin sending shivers up his spine. Dib broke their kiss again so he could place a trail of gentle kisses from the side of Zim's mouth down to his chin. Zim shuddered noticeably, the air in the room chilled. For a moment, he wished he had his clothes back but rather pulled the warm human closer as Dib trailed his tongue down the curve of Zim's neck before kissing his way back up it. Zim let out a slight throaty moan when he felt Dib just barely graze his teeth along his neck and down a little more toward one of his shoulders.

His antennae twitched a few times before settling along the sides of his head, the very tips resting near his shoulders. Dib instantly clamped his mouth down onto one of the tips of said antennae. Zim gasped audibly, the very tips being the most sensitive. His body arched up off the bed to press even more against Dib's, his eyes fluttering closed. Dib lightly teased the sensitive appendage with his tongue, twirling and twisting it a few times, earning himself a few moans from the Irken underneath him.

Dib loved being in control. He enjoyed watching every reaction coming from Zim, something he rarely got to do because he very seldom got to be on top. Zim enjoyed "torturing" him too much. After a few minutes of just playing around with Zim, he finally let go to do something different. Bringing his mouth to Zim's lime green chest, he kissed a number of different designs anywhere and everywhere he could manage to place his lips.

He loved everything about Zim's skin: the taste, the texture, hell, even the color. Absolutely everything. He couldn't take his hands off of the Irken. He never wanted this wonderful moment to end. Everything felt perfect for once.

He passed one of his hands over Zim's stomach a moment, feeling the life form they had created in one moment of passion such as this, and smiled. For the first time since it had happened, Dib actually felt at peace about the situation, could already feel an attachment forming so soon. Dib slowed his motions down, making his kisses more passionate and longer lasting.

Zim groaned lightly as Dib brought his mouth ever closer to his aching member. He wanted all of this more than ever before. The pleasure Dib was giving him made his forget everything for the time being. All his problems, all his fears, all his doubts, they were all gone and what took their place were the things Zim needed the most in that moment. Comfort, contact, Dib. He had them all and he never wanted to let go of them.

He was so lost in it all, he almost jumped when he felt Dib drag his tongue up the side of his shaft. He moaned in ecstasy as every touch from Dib became just that much more pleasurable. Zim's breaths came quicker, his head tossing and turning left and right as Dib engulfed the entirety of his member.

Dib had been waiting for this, building everything up until Zim reached his highest peak. He wanted Zim to feel pleasure the likes of which he'd never felt before. He worked his mouth excruciatingly slow on the swelling organ, eliciting a series of pleasured moans that filled the room. He had felt Zim's member stiffening against his leg almost the second he had begun playing with Zim's antennae. That's when he knew he had gained control of the situation. He picked up his pace a bit more, bobbing his head more on the Irken's member.

Zim was hanging in there the best he could, trying desperately to make the wonderful sensations last forever. Before he could stop himself, however, he began thrusting uncontrollably into Dib's mouth, exploding in one of the best orgasms he had ever had. His entire body shook with the feeling as he nearly screamed out at the top of his lungs. He collapsed back into the covers of the bed immediately after, panting, his chest heaving.

Dib finished swallowing down Zim's release, the substance leaving a sweet taste in his mouth. Dib nearly collapsed also on top of Zim after he had finished, just as worn out as Zim. Being careful of Zim, he caught himself and lowered himself gently to lie down next to Zim. The Irken quickly grabbed a hold of Dib and pulled him closer so his head was resting on Zim's chest. Dib easily cuddled up closer to Zim as he cradled Dib's head and let his hand roam through Dib's hair.

He kissed the top of Dib's head a few times before sighing contently. Feeling Dib shift to wrap arms around him, Zim looked down to watch as the human got comfortable. Hugging Zim tightly and yawning, he closed his eyes to sleep, the gentle petting soothing him considerably.

END OF SMUT SCENE! HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED!

Zim snickered a bit. "I can't move now."

Dib let out a small amused noise. "Neither can I, but you have to admit, it was worth it."

Zim nodded lightly. "Yeah...Hey, Dib? What were you and your father fighting about before you came in here? I heard yelling."

Dib frowned suddenly and opened his eyes slightly. "It was nothing you have to worry about, Zim. He said he didn't want you staying in the house anymore, but I just told him, if he kicks you out, he's kicking me out too. Because I promised to stay with you no matter what. I'm sure he can help Gaz on his own."

Zim's face paled. "What's wrong with her?"

Dib blinked once to stay awake, sleep slowly winning over him again. "Whoever raped her got her pregnant."

Zim's eyes widened in some fear at that information. "And you still chose me over her? Why?"

Dib yawned one last time, giving one simple answer before finally succumbing to the desire of getting some sleep. "It's cause I love you, Zim." his eyes closed again.

"Love?" Zim questioned quietly in a somewhat unsure voice.

Dib simply nodded against Zim's chest as he buried his face in it to sleep peacefully. "Mmmhmm..."

Zim, on the other hand, had an unsettling feeling in the pit of his gut as he tried to sleep peacefully also. Unconsciously, he had begun to comb his fingers through Dib's hair a bit faster in an attempt to calm his nerves. While the boy slept calmly throughout most of the night, Zim struggled to get some rest.

After a night of little sleep, Zim gave up. He awoke early the next morning with Dib still hugging him. Gently, he moved one of Dib's arms away so he could get up out of bed. There was something bugging him about what Dib had said last night and he couldn't take it anymore. He wanted answers and he feared if he waited any longer, he'd miss his one chance to figure out exactly what was going on. He only hoped he wasn't too late already.

Being careful not to wake Dib, he placed a pillow where he had been so the boy didn't know he had left. Dib instantly clung to the pillow in his sleep and shifted a bit but otherwise didn't wake up. He didn't want Dib to know he was leaving. He knew if Dib woke up, he'd try to keep Zim there. He couldn't have that.

Gathering up his clothes, he quickly dressed and made his way into the hallway. The house was so quiet this early in the morning. As quietly as possible, he made his way to the kitchen to find a pen and some paper. He wanted to write Dib a note before he left. He knew it wouldn't help calm the boy's nerves, but he hated the idea of leaving with no explanation.

He found what he was looking for quickly and wrote his note. Then as quietly as he had made his way downstairs, he made his way back up to the room. He wanted to put it somewhere the Dib would see right away. Finally, he made up his mind and placed it on the door. The Dib would be sure to see it there.

Taking one last glance at the boy, he moved to stand right over him. He hated leaving like this, but he kept telling himself he'd be back as soon as physically possible. Reaching a hand out to the sleeping face, he moved some bangs away from Dib's forehead so he could place a simple kiss there before leaving. "I'll be back soon." he whispered and then he was gone.

He knew what he had to do. He had to find that Irken bastard that had raped Gaz and make him pay. Whether he meant to or not, he had left Zim to take the blame for his actions, and that was simply unforgivable. Though some Irkens were the lowest creatures in the known universe, Zim wasn't one of them. He had at least some pride and would never even think about raping a young earth girl or any other species as a matter of fact. But he couldn't help but think that the Tallest had ordered this. It made him sick to think he had once followed such merciless leaders.

Pushing all these thoughts to the side, he found Gir sleeping under the couch downstairs. It took all his strength to hold the little bot down and keep him quiet until they got outside. Once outside, he pulled their disguises out from his PAK along with some other device. It was the same device he had used to find Dib when he was in the hospital and when he had been sent to that asylum. Although he only ever used it to find Dib, it could also be used on other species, even Irkens. He placed it to the right setting, and turned it on. If there really were another Irken on the planet, his scanner would be sure to pick it up. And since their late night visitor had stopped by Dib's house, he knew he couldn't be too far. No Irken would be stoopid enough to leave their ship too far from their destination.

Almost the second he turned it on, the scanner got a strong reading from not far away. Wasting no time at all, he jumped on Gir's back and directed the small SIR unit in the direction he wanted to go.

Dib awoke a few hours later, completely alone. The second he realized it was a pillow he was hugging and not Zim, he shot up straight in bed to look around the room. All traces of the Irken were gone. Finally, his eyes landed on the note on the door. In a matter of seconds, he was up out of bed and pulling the note off the door to read.

"_Dib._

_By the time you read this, I will already be long gone. I don't want you to worry too much though because I should be back before midnight. So stop pouting already. I know you'll be pissed when you read this. But I couldn't wait around to tell you in person or you may have held me back. I'm sorry, but this may be my last chance to get some answers. I need to know the reason for that Irken's presence here. I fear the worst. I fear the information he may have acquired that night and his motives for raping your sister. I'm sorry, but this is just something I have to do._

_Zim."_

Dib re-read it once more, his eyes wide. "No...No!" he sprinted downstairs and opened the front door, but Zim was already gone.

Bixxle reclined in his ship, completely bored now. He had been on this putrid planet for 2 weeks, and he couldn't take it anymore. He had enjoyed the first couple days of rest and relaxation, but now he was just plain bored. There was nothing for him to really do, so he just stayed in his ship eating snacks and watching Irken movies on his monitor. He wished he could leave already, but he only had to stay one more day. After today, he could go check and see how his little experiment had gone and then leave in the middle of the night.

Suddenly, an alarm in his ship went off. Something was approaching and fast. Not at all surprised by the sudden alarm, he took his time making his way out of the ship to see what, or who, exactly was coming his way. He didn't have to go too much farther as Zim came into view riding on Gir's back. The disguised Irken and robot came to stop a good distance away from Bixxle.

As Zim stood to face him, Bixxle just laughed lowly. "Well, well, well. If it isn't Zim. What an unpleasant surprise."

Zim growled lowly at the insult. He recognized this Irken right away. Bixxle had been in the same class as him back when they had been training to become Invaders. "Bixxle...I should have known only you would have been low enough to rape an innocent girl. Who the hell sent you?! What business do you have here on Earth?!" his voice dripped with venom.

Bixxle simply smirked and held his hands out in a small gesture. "Oh, come now, Zim. Don't tell me you still haven't figured it out. You know who sent me. And as for my business here, I'll give you a clue. It has to do with reproduction. That enough of a clue for you?"

Zim's glare just grew that much more at that answer. "Damn you. Damn you to hell, you bastard! This planet has done nothing to the Irken Empire! And that girl! Because of you, her life will never be the same!"

Bixxle's cruel grin grew at that. "Ah, so I take it my little experiment worked. That means I can finally leave this horrid planet and report my findings to the Tallest. They'll be thrilled to hear that they can move in right away to take possession of this planet as soon as they get here."

Zim's fists shook with rage. "NOT IF I KILL YOU FIRST!!!" he lunged at Bixxle in an attempt to strangle him.

Bixxle easily sidestepped the attack as Zim turned to claw at him, missing by just a few centimeters. Zim continued to swipe at him in a blind fury while Bixxle managed to dodge everything the Irken threw at him. "You know, Zim, I do believe you've gotten slower. Tell me, have you gained weight or is that just-"

"SHUT UP!" Zim screamed as he launched himself at the other using his spider legs.

Bixxle moved to the side as he brought an ax kick down on Zim's back, sending him to the ground. "Or perhaps it's this planet that's made you so weak."

Zim's landing knocked the wind out of him, but otherwise he didn't stop moving. The second he hit the ground, he rolled onto his back so his spider legs could shoot a few lasers from their pointed tips.

Bixxle wasn't expecting such a quick recovery and took to his own spider legs as Zim started shooting off lasers at him. Perhaps Zim wasn't as weak as he looked, but that didn't change the fact that Zim had never beaten him in a fight. At least not alone.

Four spider legs held Zim up as another two continued firing lasers at Bixxle. It wasn't until several minutes later that Zim finally managed to gain the upper hand when one of his lasers sliced through one of Bixxle's spider legs, sending him slightly off balance. As Bixxle faltered, Zim took the opportunity to plunge one of his spider legs deep into Bixxle's right shoulder. Bixxle let out a loud cry of pain as he brought one hand to his wounded shoulder. Blood dripped from the freshly made wound as Bixxle sent Zim a murderous glare with those blood red eyes of his. There was no way he was going to let Zim win. He would be an outcast if he let that happen.

Zim made another thrust at Bixxle's chest, but the Irken dodged it and grabbed a hold of Zim's spider leg as it passed. Zim didn't have time to react as Bixxle yanked him forward by the spider leg. As Zim stumbled forward toward him, Bixxle brought his foot straight to Zim's groin and then a knee to his abdomen when Zim doubled over from the kick. Zim's eyes went wide as he fell to his knees, coughing into one hand and wrapping an arm around his middle before vomiting what little he had eaten the other day onto the ground where he knelt. What really scared him though was that he could see blood in it.

Bixxle straightened somewhat as he looked down upon the ex-Irken Invader. "Heh. I knew it. You're still just as weak as you were back when we were training to become Invaders. The only difference about now and then is that now you don't have anybody here to save you. Not that disgusting human you seen so fond of or that Irken freak you had as a friend growing up. What was his name again? You know the one I'm talking about. The short one with the weird skin condition. Him."

Every word coming from Bixxle's mouth had Zim's temper rising more and more. Spitting a bit more blood from his mouth, his voice came out in a dangerous growl. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

He connected his fist with Bixxle's jaw. Thrown slightly off guard, Bixxle stumbled back, a bit surprised. He didn't think Zim had any more fight left in him after that last blow. But there Zim stood before him, panting. Bixxle was beginning to tire of this fight. He waited for Zim to charge at him again so he could place one final punch to the Irken's gut.

The punch had Zim nearly collapsing to the ground. Bixxle easily took a hold of him by his antennae and held him up. Letting out a pained yelp, Zim held his head near the base of his antennae, just praying the other wouldn't rip the thin appendages from their spots. Bixxle merely leaned in more to whisper something to Zim. "You're just lucky the Tallest instructed me not to kill you. But don't think that means you're off the hook. They'll be here in about a week, and there's nothing you can do about it." With that, he threw Zim back to the ground just so he could give him a few choice kicks. By the time he had finished, Zim's vision was blurring from loss of blood. One final kick to the head had Zim blacking out completely.

Zim awoke several hours later completely alone except for Gir. The little android was kneeling next to Zim and whimpering. When Zim tried to move he found that he couldn't. And what was worst was that he was lying in a puddle of his own blood that continued to grow larger by the hours. He could feel consciousness leaving him again as he desperately tried to voice a message to Gir. "Gir...Gir...I need you to find the Dib and bring him to me. Hurry."

With that, he passed out again. Gir seemed to understand the command well enough cause he actually got up and went in search of Dib. But whether he'd actually be able to find his way back to the house was something even he didn't know.

Dib sat waiting outside in the same position he had been sitting in all day, with his legs up to his chest and his chin resting in his arms. Every hour that went by had Dib worrying more and more. He was near breaking point now as he watched the setting sun in the distance. He wanted to get up and search for Zim, but he had no idea where to start. So he sat there, waiting. There wasn't much more he could do at this point. He'd wait up all night if he had to.

He didn't turn when he heard the front door opening. Gaz didn't even acknowledge him at first as she walked pass him to stand a good distance away. Lighting a cigarette, she crossed her arms to stare off into the sunset.

After several minutes of silence, she finally spoke. "Dad wants you to go inside. You've been sitting out here all day."

Dib lifted his head slightly. "I'm not moving until he gets back. He didn't do it, Gaz. He wouldn't."

Gaz finished off her cigarette, exhaling in a sigh before turning to give him a long, level stare. Then she spoke. "Bring me proof and then I'll believe you." She made her way back into the house without another word. Dib watched her as she left before turning back to keep a look out for Zim.

It took several hours and plenty of backtracking before Gir finally passed an area he recognized. He had made it into town and gotten lost many times before getting back on track. There were so many streets and stores; it was hard not to take a wrong turn along the way. But he made it and was soon heading up the street Dib's house was on.

Zim felt movement and warmth as his mind slipped back and forth between consciousness and unconsciousness. He wasn't sure why, but he felt as though he were flying or perhaps just floating. If it wasn't for all the pain he still felt, he would have sworn he was dead. But the sensation of pain seemed to be getting stronger, wracking against his already battered body, like rain. In fact, he was pretty sure he could feel the little droplets of acidy water splashing painfully against his face. Or perhaps that was just his blood. It would explain why his face seemed to be the only part of his body getting the abuse. He could feel the assault of liquidy evil falling on him but there was no additional pain accompanying the pains that had already been there the last time he had woken up. However, nothing would explain this warmth and sense of flying he felt.

He tried to bury his face away into the warmth and found it to be surprisingly soft, like cloth. But that couldn't be. He was on the ground in a puddle of his own blood, wasn't he?

Everything in him wanted him to open his eyes to clarify his surroundings but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get them open more than a crack. And even then he had difficulty making anything out. Everything was a horrible blur from all the blood loss. Even color was lost in the unending darkness surrounding him. It made him terribly dizzy and he almost thought he'd be sick again. But instead he just closed his eyes, wanting to let out a moan but finding himself unable to. His voice was completely gone for the time being. In the meantime, he just swallowed down his sickness in favor of falling asleep. It didn't take long for him to fall back into unconsciousness. He had barely even been awake to begin with.

A/N: And I leave you all there cause I suck like that. XD But feel lucky people. I was five seconds away from falling asleep tonight when I made myself get up out of bed and come down to the computer to finish typing this out. Now I'm wide-awake and it's 12:15. I think I would have killed myself if I hadn't gotten an update in this weekend though. So here it is. I have skool in a few hours so I'll just wrap things up here and head back to bed.

And now to thank everybody that reviewed on that last chapter.

To Sora4president: Yep, that pretty much sums it all up. XD I think I'll take that as a compliment and hopefully you'll continue to read. 8D

To Thomas Rose: Yeah, I know how you feel. I hate logging in sometimes. Of course I know Rilzit. I've been reading that story practically since the beginning. I'm just waiting for Kitteh and Neofox to update chapter 57 on DA since I don't think they've updated it on in a long time. But right now, I've been reading Monsters and Ladybugs, trying to catch up on their DADR goodness. I always have the hardest time reading that story. It short circuits my brain and makes me draw lots of DADR art. In fact I just finished a ZADADATR picture the other day and posted it on deviantart. It's sexy! XD Anyways, I try to update when I can but sometimes things get hard around here. But I should have more time soon to work on it, so hopefully the next update will be quicker than this last one. I also fear the apocalypse when I think about it. As soon as the idea pops into my head, I can't get it out of my head and freak out until I finally fall asleep. DX Well, just tell me when you have those stories up and I'd be happy to read them.

To scarlet pikachu: Welcome back and thanks for the comment. I do my best. I'm glad to see you're still continuing to read my story. That makes me extremely happiful. does happy dance I know how hard it can be to write MPreg well and I really want it to make sense rather than just having it randomly happen.

And to anybody else that reviews- Thank you all. Much love to all my reviewers!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: All right, so it's a bit late but oh well. Merry Christmas! Here's your late Christmas present. An update! Finally! And you know what would be a really nice Christmas and birthday present for me? Not killing me for taking so long on this chapter. That and plenty of reviews. Lol. Just kidding. But seriously, don't blame me for taking so long. Skool was killing me with finals and to tell you all the truth, this chapter was a hell of a lot longer than I thought it would be. It took me forever to write, let alone type. So no complaints. Feel lucky that I'm finally on Winter Break. I don't have to go back to skool until January 24th, I think. So I should have plenty of time for updates now. Anyways, let's get started now, shall we? Disclaimer: I own nobody in this chapter but there is a mention of one of my girlfriend's characters, Ghost, at the end of this chapter. But in reality, we won't meet him until the third story of the trilogy. I just mention him in this story a few times. So enjoy Chapter 7: Month 4- Space.

Warmth. There was so much warmth and comfort. He didn't know why, but he never wanted it to end. The pain had lessened dramatically, and his headache was nearly gone now. It made him want to remain in this unconscious state longer than he knew would be safe. He wanted to stay asleep and never have to wake up again, but he knew he couldn't.

The Tallest were coming, and he couldn't afford to waste any more time. Every second he spent recovering would bring them all just that much closer to their impending doom. If they were going to have any chance of surviving any of this, then he had to wake up. He had to tell Dib. He had to prepare. The sooner they managed to get everything they'd need together, the better. There was no chance they could face the entire Irken Empire alone, so they'd have to do the next best thing. Run. They had to leave the planet completely and seek out extra help. Zim already knew where to look for help. Now it was just a matter of actually waking up and getting things ready for their long journey.

He felt consciousness slowly returning as he struggled to open his eyes. All his senses told him he was no longer lying on the ground in a puddle of his own blood, but he needed to see it for himself to truly believe it. His antennae twitched, a few small beeps coming to them every once in a while, like a video game. Crimson eyes finally managed to just barely open as vision slowly returned. At first, all he saw was a blinding white light, but other colors were soon to follow as he blinked them open more to get a better idea of his surroundings. One of the first things to meet his eyes when his vision had finally cleared enough to make anything out was Gaz sitting in a chair next to the bed he was laying in, playing one of her handheld games. It had him nearly jumping back out of bed and screaming. "DON'T KILL ME!"

He tried to shrink farther away from the demon girl when she looked up from her game to give him a rather unimpressed look. "Just shut up and relax. Your voice is more annoying than Dib's." she paused her game and put it down on a small table nearby to get up and gather a few things.

Zim just watched her with wide eyes, practically hiding behind the covers. "Aren't you going to exact your revenge on me by ripping my throat out or something?"

Gaz shrugged. "I was going to, but I told Dib if he could bring me proof you hadn't done it, I would believe him. And he did. At about 2 in the morning, he dragged in your sorry ass out of the rain. You were covered in blood. You may be stoopid, but even you wouldn't hurt yourself that bad. Hell, even Dib wouldn't go that far, and he's been known for doing stoopid shit like that. That's enough proof for me."

Zim just blinked his eyes confusedly at that information. "Dib? He brought me in? But then what happened to-? Where's Gir?"

"He's fine. He's probably just sleeping somewhere in Dib's room." she gestured loosely with her back turned to him. "Here. Open your mouth." she ordered as she shoved a thermometer into his mouth, practically gagging him. She turned back to face him before taking a seat to wait.

Zim made an attempt to speak through the thermometer. "Bhut what happhened to Dhib?" his words were a little hard to make out. "Where ihs he?"

Gaz had gone back to playing her game. "If you must know, he went to bed about two hours ago. He's exhausted. He waited up all night for you to return just to have to go searching for you around 11:00 at night with Gir. Then he had to carry you home on his back in the rain. You're just lucky he found you. He even spent an extra two hours cleaning you up afterwards. You were hurt pretty badly when he got you in. I practically had to threaten him to go to bed. Now quit talking with the thermometer in your mouth."

Zim obeyed and kept silent until the thermometer beeped once. Putting down her game again, Gaz took the device out of Zim's mouth to look it over. "Eh. Your temperature is close to normal. Closer than Dib's anyways." she shrugged and got up to get something else.

Zim watched her closely as she moved about the room. "What do you mean?"

Gaz returned to the bedside with what looked to be a bottle of some liquid medicine and a spoon. "What I mean is that you guys should learn to stop running around in the rain so much." she poured some into the spoon. "Open up."

Zim looked at the liquid skeptically. "What is it?"

Gaz sighed harshly. "It's just something to keep you from getting sick. Now, quit being such a baby and take it already."

Zim spoke up quickly before she could force it into her mouth like she had done with the thermometer. "Why are you doing all this for me? I thought you hated me."

Gaz lowered the spoon slightly. "I do. But I doubt you want my dad anywhere near you, and trust me, you definitely don't want Dib anywhere near you right now. You have no idea how pissed he is."

Zim's eyes went wide. "Really?"

"Yes, really. Now take your medicine already." She shoved the spoon into Zim's mouth when he was distracted.

Zim instantly made a sour face and stuck his tongue out. "Bleh! That tastes awful!"

Gaz just rolled her eyes. "Suck it up. It's not nearly as bad as what Dib's going to do to you when he wakes up again."

Zim groaned. "I don't have time to argue with him. I have to get my ship running again." As if just remembering his whole reason for this entire situation, he sat up more in bed to get up. He instantly regretted it, however. A sharp pain ran straight through his body at all the movement. Dropping the blanket down to his waist, he wrapped his arms around himself. "Damn. I was hoping most of the pain would be gone when I woke up. But I have to get moving. I can't stay in bed all day." Zim's fingers gingerly passed over his bruised skin and some bandages. That's when the realization hit him and his eyes went wide. "Where the hell are my clothes?!" he pulled the covers back up around himself.

Gaz just shook her head. "Like I said before, you were covered in blood. They're in the wash."

Zim ran his fingers over the bandages once again. There was one wrapping around his head, another crossing around his chest, a third one around his thigh, and one last one a little lower on his leg. "Then who?...who?..."

"Dib. Dib bandaged you up. I wouldn't touch your naked body with a 12 foot pole." Gaz said in a matter of fact kind of way.

Zim glared slightly at her, though a bit relieved. "Well can I have another pair of clothes then so I can get back to work?"

Gaz faked thinking about that. "Let me thing...hmmm...No. You can barely move let alone work. Now, here." she held up another spoonful of medicine.

Zim instantly backed away from her. "What?! You never said anything about having to take more! There's no way I'm swallowing another spoonful of that stuff!"

Gaz crossed her arms momentarily. "The bottle says to take two doses for the best results. If you really want to get better then you need to take it."

She uncrossed her arms to try and force the spoon into his mouth again, but he struggled this time, turning his head away every time it got too close to his mouth. "I'm not taking anymore of that stuff! Zim is just fine! I need none of your human medicine to get better! My PAK has all the medication I need!"

He tried to push her hand away stubbornly, but she wasn't going to give up so easily. "Your PAK doesn't work very well then. If it did, then you'd be able to actually move without any pain, but it's obvious you can't. So quit resisting me or I'll hold you down and make you take it!"

They continued to struggle like that for several minutes before another voice was raised in the room. "Here, Gaz. I'll do it."

Both Zim and Gaz stopped their fighting to look to where the voice had come from. Dib stood in the doorway of the room, a tired, emotionless expression on his face. Dib's sudden presence had Zim staring intently at him. He watched as Dib walked slowly into the room and grabbed the spoon from his sister. For some unknown reason, Zim suddenly couldn't speak, just watch as Dib came closer.

He wasn't expecting such rough treatment from Dib, but the human boy shoved the spoon much harder into his mouth than Gaz had before yanking it out. The liquid left a nasty taste in Zim's mouth, and he wanted to spit it out. That's when Dib came down to eye level with him to give him a long, hard stare. "Don't you dare spit it out."

Dib's gaze was so intense; it had Zim tensing up some before finally swallowing it down. He made another face and stuck his tongue out, looking sicker than he already looked before. But it wasn't the medicine that was making him feel sick in that moment. It was the look Dib was giving him. It wasn't a glare or even that much of a scowl, but those amber eyes seemed to hold a silent fury in them that Dib could let out at any moment. It made Zim feel extremely uneasy as his antennae same to rest at the sides of his head.

He didn't think it was possible, but Dib actually looked scarier than Gaz in that moment. Normally, one would have never guessed they were related in any way, but that look was so eerily like Gaz's that for once, it was easy to see they were related. Dib spoke again. "Gaz, I'd like to have a word alone with Zim. Please leave the room." he said in such a calm voice, it had Zim shivering.

Gaz simply snatched up her game to leave. "Whatever. He's your problem now." she turned and left the room.

Zim thought having one of the siblings out of the room would help but it actually just made things ten times worse. It was obvious he had been left to deal with the worst of the two at the moment.

A few moments passed in complete silence, and he hated every second of it. Despite his nervousness, the last thing he wanted to show in front of Dib was fear. So he gave Dib one of the best glares he could manage in that moment. He didn't want Dib to know how intimidated he felt at his stare.

Dib opened his mouth to speak as he brought a finger up to point at him as though he was about to scold a young child, but nothing came out. Letting out a frustrated sound, he dropped his hand and made it into a fist. He wasn't sure exactly what to say to the Irken. He wanted to scream and yell at the other until he got his point across. He wanted to slap or punch him at least once to prove his frustration but knew that wouldn't help matters. Zim was already hurt enough as it were. He wanted to grab Zim by the front of the shirt and shake him until he understood how Dib felt but there was nothing for him to grab. All he could do was stand there feeling defeated.

He let his head drop with the rest of his body so the other couldn't see his face. Closing his eyes, he cursed. "Damnit, Zim..."

Zim watched Dib curiously, his face softening when he saw Dib slumping forward. He saw Dib's form shaking a bit with emotion and heard the boy let out a choked sob. "Damnit, Zim! Don't ever do that again! Do you have any idea how worried I was?! Do you even care?!" he brought his head back up so Zim could see his face. It was no longer angry but hurt with tears rolling down his cheeks.

Zim suddenly wanted to pull Dib close, to tell him everything would be okay, but he knew he couldn't. He'd be lying if he did that, and he didn't want to lie to the boy, especially when he was already upset enough as it was. "I...can't make any promises..." he said as he looked away to the ground. "...but I do." He looked back up at Dib before making an effort to crawl forward on the bed so he could grab his shirt and pull the boy to his chest. "I really do." he tried to soothe the boy, running his fingers through the dark strands of hair.

Dib let Zim pull him onto the bed as he clung to Zim's body, burying his face in the other's chest to cry. How had their roles reversed so suddenly? One minute he was the one in there trying to take care of Zim and the next, he was pressed tightly to the Irken's body, receiving all the comfort he had given to the other a day ago. But he didn't want to move quite yet. He just wanted to stay there until Zim reassured him that everything would be alright. When nothing along those lines came from Zim's mouth, he tightened his hold on Zim more as though at any moment the alien would just disappear from his life forever. In a more desperate tone than he meant to use, he said those three words he had last said to Zim before falling asleep, as though it may be his last chance to tell the other how he felt. "I love you."

Zim's hand slowed before stopping completely. "Don't." he whispered.

That one simple word had Dib's eyes widening before looking up from Zim's chest. Had he heard right? "What?"

Zim's hands had stopped but they continued to hold tightly to Dib, one hand fisting in Dib's hair, the other in Dib's shirt near his back. Zim's eyes remained anywhere but on Dib. He had really hoped it would never come to this, but he couldn't handle going through with it. He didn't want to look at Dib when he told the boy the truth. He couldn't. It all hurt too much. "Lust, passion, intimacy. Do it for any of those reasons, but don't do it for that reason. I don't want it to turn into that." The words were just as painful for Zim as they were for Dib, but they were true. He didn't want to ever feel the pain of ever losing Dib were something to happen to either of them or worse; If Dib left him for any other reason. He knew it would still hurt, but he didn't think he'd be able to handle it if he let their relationship develop that far. He only hoped for Dib's sake, it wasn't too late.

Dib was speechless a moment. "B...but, Zim! Don't you care-?"

"Yes, I care! Don't you get it?! I care too goddamn much to put you through any of that!" Zim screamed at the boy, feeling himself breaking down.

Zim's words had Dib falling silent. "So all this time...you were just using me for pleasure?"

Zim couldn't hold the tears back any longer. "Of course not! It just can't turn into...love..." he choked down a sob. "So just please, stop already."

Dib's voice grew softer as he listened to Zim. "Why can't it be more?" he nestled his face back in Zim's chest.

Zim held Dib closer, hiding his face in Dib's hair. "Because, it just hurts too much."

They stayed embracing each other for what felt like forever until sleep finally began to slowly win over them.

Zim awoke again for the second time that day, his eyes sore from crying. He didn't want to move, but he knew he had to. It took him a moment to realize Dib was still clinging to him as he attempted to sit up. The boy's face was pressed up against one of Zim's sides like a pillow. Dib's skin was so warm. It seemed the boy really had worried himself sick.

Zim shifted a bit, knowing he couldn't leave the room until Dib woke up. His clothes were probably still in the wash, and he really didn't want to risk making his way naked to Dib's room to borrow another pair. And he doubted Dib would be happy to wake up with him gone again. But he had to get up. He couldn't waste any more time resting.

Gently, he shook Dib in an attempt to wake him up. "Dib...Dib...Wake up..." He continued to shake the boy until he finally opened his honey-colored eyes.

The first sight to greet Dib's eyes was Zim looking down on him. It took him a moment to remember everything that had happened right before he had fallen asleep, but when he did, he could feel everything in him crumbling. But he refused to cry again. He had already looked weak in front of Zim once today, and he didn't want Zim seeing him like that again. Instead, he just averted his eyes as he sat up. "I'm sorry...Did you need something?"

Dib looked miserable and Zim hated seeing him like that. Zim shifted his gaze to anywhere that wasn't Dib. "Um...Yeah...Can I get another pair of clothes? I have some work I should get to." Their conversation felt so empty, and Zim hated how it made him feel, knowing he had caused it.

Dib shifted to get out of bed. "Yeah...sure...I'll get you a pair of mine." It took him a few minutes to return, carrying a pair of black pants and a black T-shirt with the words "Mysterious Mysteries" in lime green on the back. Taking a seat on the bed, he handed Zim the clothes, not bothering to get up and leave. He had already closed the door.

Zim accepted the clothes thankfully before moving to get out of bed. His body was still sore, but he'd live. Taking care not to brush too roughly over new wounds, he pulled on the pants and shirt as quickly as he could before grabbing a communicator out of his PAK to call Gir. "Gir. Meet me in front of the house and be in disguise."

Dib, who had been eyeing the Irken the entire time he got dressed, sat up straighter at the command he had just given Gir. "You're going?! But, Zim! You're hurt! Don't you think you should be getting some more rest before-"

"I'm fine. I can't waste any more time recovering. I need to get a few things from my base to help fix up my base faster." Zim interrupted.

Dib didn't like where this idea was going, however. "But, why? Why can't it wait a few days? You really should be in bed res-"

"Dib!" Zim interjected forcefully before dropping his voice to a lighter tone. "They're coming. They know. I'm sorry but if I don't have my ship running in a week then we're all doomed. I shouldn't be long though. In the meantime, you should think about packing up everything important you'll need. We need to leave as soon as physically possible."

All the new information had Dib's head reeling as he fell back to sit on the bed again. "What?! Your leaders, right? They know that you're... and Gaz...and Oh my God! In a week?! There's no way we can be ready in that amount of time! And what about everyone else?! What's going to happen to-"

Zim suddenly stepped forward to grab a hold of Dib's upper arms. "DIB! Calm down! I have a plan, but we need to hurry. And don't worry about the rest of the planet. They're here for reproduction purposes. They should be safe for a while at least. There's nothing we can do about it now though. We'll need to get some help if we're going to save your planet."

Dib felt sick but just nodded his head in response, their relationship problems becoming one of the last things on his mind now.

Zim simply nodded his head once. "Good. Now, tell me. Is Tak's ship functional?"

Dib looked away a moment as he thought about it. "It works but it could still use some fixing up if you intend to use it."

Zim nodded some more. "Good...good... We'll pick it up tomorrow and bring it here. If I pull an all niter, I should have my ship running by morning. But I have to get going and get the parts I'll need." he said, pulling away from Dib.

Dib just nodded and got up to follow Zim outside.

Almost the second he stepped outside, Zim was assaulted by the green and black puppy. "Master! I was so worried!" Gir squealed as he latched onto Zim's head.

The sudden impact had Zim falling back against Dib, who caught him as he stumbled. Zim gently plucked the little robot off his head to hold in his arms. In a gentler voice than Dib expected, Zim responded to the disguised android. "I know, and I'm sorry, Gir. I didn't mean to scare you." he turned to face Dib. "or you..."

Gir let out a happy sound, but Dib didn't know how to respond to that. He was speechless as he stood there watching Zim. He wanted to pull Zim close and never let go, but his body wasn't responding to his brain.

Zim sighed gently as he turned back around to set Gir down. "Guess we should get going." he turned back to Dib. "I'll be back soon." With that said, he leaned forward to place a kiss on Dib's lips, but Dib turned his head so Zim could only get his cheek.

"It's getting late." he said as he pointed out the setting sun.

Zim knew he shouldn't have expected Dib to respond too nicely to a kiss, but it still hurt, more than he cared to admit. Taking a step back, he brought one fisted hand to his chest as he gave Dib a slightly hurt face. "Yeah...I guess you're right...I'll just leave now..."

He turned to leave but felt a hand grab his arm. "Wait...it's getting cold out...you might want to take a coat with you...you know...in case it rains." Dib said, refusing to make eye contact. It only took him a minute to return with his trench coat. Being careful of Zim's injuries, he helped the Irken slip into the slightly oversized trench coat. "There. That's better."

Zim tugged slightly at one of the sleeves before looking back at Dib. "Thanks...See you later..."

Dib just shrugged. "I'll be waiting." he smiled gently.

Zim smiled at that before jumping on Gir's back to head back toward his base.

Dib waved once before pulling his hand back, still feeling fairly upset at the moment. He wanted to sit there and wait for Zim to return again but knew he couldn't. If the threat Zim was proposing were really as close as he said they were, then they'd have to start preparing now.

It didn't take much to convince Gaz, but Membrane was a completely different matter. Membrane didn't want to believe what Dib was trying to tell him. It was hard enough believing something he didn't understand, let alone Zim's word. Dib didn't blame him for being at least a little skeptical. It had taken him 16 years to finally believe Dib about there being aliens, and even then he had only believed after seeing Zim with his own two eyes. But this time they couldn't just wait for him to see an alien invasion to believe it. By then it would be too late and they couldn't take that risk. He had to think of a different strategy.

After about an hour of brainstorming, he came up with a solution that would hopefully be irresistible to his dad. As Membrane sat in his lab, working on a new invention, Dib came up behind him. "Hey, dad. When was the last time you actually took a vacation?"

Membrane put down his work a moment to think about that. "Hmmm...about three years, maybe four. Who do you ask, son?"

Dib just leaned a bit against the table Membrane was working at. "Oh, no reason. I was just wondering if maybe you'd actually like to take one anytime soon...like say...maybe sometime next week?"

Membrane immediately brought up a finger to wag at him, however. "No. No. I've got far too much work to do to be taking a vacation any time soon. There are so many cures to be found and inventions to be made. Perhaps in a month or two, we can all take a cruise or something." he said continuing his work.

Dib simply pushed himself up from where he was sitting. "Actually, dad. I was thinking maybe you'd like to take a space trip instead. You know, get a new change of scenery to work in, and maybe even study some of the things out in space close up."

Membrane's movements stopped suddenly. "Well, I have been wanting a change of scenery and there are a few phenomena I've always wanted to look further into. Alright, Dib. I'll give it some thought and get back to you on that." he resumed his work as Dib left the room.

He knew pushing his father too far all in one night would screw things up completely so in the meantime, Gaz would have to help him with the packing, which shouldn't take too long. There weren't many very important things they'd need for the trip. Basically just the same stuff Dib had packed before leaving for the asylum. Until Zim got back, he'd just pack what he could. Zim could always go through it later and decide what they had room for in his and Tak's ship. He only hoped they would hold more than they looked like they would hold. He doubted there'd be much room in the front of the ship, even with only two people in each.

As Dib continued his packing late into the night, he completely lost track of time. He didn't even hear Zim as he came back into the house around 11:00. The Irken was sneaking in as quietly as he could in an attempt not to wake anyone up. He was carrying a box of different Irken tools and pieces he needed to complete the repairs on his ship. Setting the box aside a moment, he made his way back upstairs to look in on Dib.

Slowly opening the door to Dib's room just enough to peak in, he noticed Dib's room was filled with boxes. Opening it more, he stepped in to find Dib fast asleep on the ground with his head in his arms on a half packed box. The boy had gotten much more done in the time he was gone than he thought possible. Perhaps they'd actually be able to pull this off.

Zim didn't want to wake the human boy, nor did he want to just leave Dib asleep on the ground. So as gently as he possibly could, Zim gathered Dib up into his arms to place him back into his bed. He had to push aside a few empty boxes, but he managed to get Dib back into bed without waking him. Dib certainly was a heavy sleeper, considering the bit of difficulty he had lifting Dib with his injuries.

Once in bed, Zim worked to untangle the mess of covers Dib had kicked to the end of his bed the night before. Finally getting them straightened out, Zim pulled them up around Dib so the human wouldn't get cold. He wanted to climb into the bed with the warm human and fall asleep but he had a schedule to keep up with. Leaning forward, he placed one simple kiss to the top of Dib's head before leaving the room. "Goodnight, Dib." he whispered gently. With that, he returned back to his work on the ship for the rest of the night.

Dib awoke early the next morning to what sounded like an engine running. Making his way down to his father's lab, Dib found Zim practically bouncing up and down in excitement. Clapping his hands together and turning toward Dib, he squeed. "It works! It took me all night, but it actually works again!"

Dib couldn't help but smile a little. "That's great, Zim. Maybe now you can help me with some of the packing. Gaz is a bit slow, and I'm still trying to convince dad to go with us."

Zim was all smiles as he began packing a few of his Irken tools back into the box he had brought them in. "Maybe if we're lucky, he'll decide to stay on Earth."

Dib's smile fell away at those words, not at all amused by them. "ZIM! That's not funny! Now, are you going to help me today or not?"

Zim's smile never faltered as he thought about it. "Oh, lighten up, Dib-thing. Eh...I think today I'll be heading over to grab Tak's ship from your garage instead so I can work on that a little."

"Oh." Dib said in a slightly disappointed voice. "Well, maybe I should go with you to grab a few things from home."

Zim waved that idea off with one hand as soon as it was proposed. "That can wait. I'd rather go alone. Things will just move faster that way."

Dib's face fell more with that answer. "Oh...Okay..." he turned around and wrapped his arms around himself. "I guess I'll just get back to packing then."

Zim's smile suddenly fell away when Dib began walking away. "What's wrong?"

Dib looked back slightly. "Nothing. Really, I'm fine."

He didn't want to admit how much he had missed Zim last night. Even after everything Zim had said, he knew he couldn't do what the Irken asked of him. He couldn't stop loving Zim no matter what he did. He was too far in and there was no way out. Even if Zim didn't love him back, he never wanted to lose what little happiness the Irken brought him.

Zim didn't buy any of what Dib was saying for a second. Before Dib could even reach the door, Zim grabbed a hold of Dib's arm to pull him into a tight hug and just hold him tightly. He didn't need to say a word as Dib turned to bury his face in Zim's chest. It was obvious Dib was still upset about yesterday.

As Dib brought his arms up to wrap around Zim, he let a few stray tears fall down his face every once in a while. "Just promise me...promise me this will never stop...this feeling...this contact...please..."

Zim gently nuzzled a few kisses to the top of Dib's head. "Of course not...It won't...ever...Everything I've given you...it will never stop...I promise..."

Dib wanted to believe him. He really did. Just as long as the Irken cared for him even a little and his actions meant something, Dib felt as though he'd survive this.

Zim pulled away slightly after a moment, his hands still firmly set on Dib's shoulders. "Hey, you know what? I think I can spare some time to take a small break. How about some breakfast? Zim is starving." he smiled lightly at Dib.

Dib brought up a hand to wipe away a few remaining tears before smiling also. "Alright. Anything you want in particular?"

"Pancakes! With lots of syrup!" Zim's smile beamed at him as he began rocking back and forth from heel to toe. The action had him looking like an excited 5 year old who had just been offered a truckload of candy.

It had Dib letting out a small, amused laugh. "Alright, then. Pancakes it is."

Escorting Zim into the kitchen, Dib set to work making their breakfasts while Zim took a seat at the table. The entire time Dib was busy making pancakes, they began planning more of exactly what they would need to pack. Dib was surprised by some of the things Zim added to his list of things to bring.

"Wait. Wait. Wait. Exactly how long are we going to be gone?" he set a plate of pancakes in from of Zim right as Gaz was entering.

"Five or six months, maybe a year if you count the return trip here. And that's only if we can even find the help I'm looking for." Zim shrugged and began to dig into his food as Dib started making his own breakfast.

"A YEAR?! There's no way I'll be able to convince dad to take a year long vacation!" Dib exclaimed.

As Zim finished his first pancake and began on his second, he merely waved a hand at Dib. "Then don't. Just get him on board. It will be too late to turn back after we've already set out."

Dib seemed to give that some thought. "And how about food and stuff? How much will we need for this trip? What if we run out along the way and starve to death, especially with you and Gaz...Oh my God! What about the babies?! You can't be traveling if you're..."

"Calm down, Dib. Just make as many trips to the store as you can before we leave and we'll pack as much food as we can. It's not like we're going to starve. I've also got plenty of food onboard and there are always plenty of other planets we can stop at along the way if we need more supplies. Trust me. And I've got a medical bay onboard just in case." he winked at Dib.

As Gaz popped a waffle into the toaster for herself, she also joined the conversation. "Care to tell us exactly what we're going to be traveling in along the way? I'd rather not be cramped into a small ship with three other people for 6 months."

Zim smirked. "Well, you didn't think we'd be traveling the whole way there in my ship and Tak's, did you? Those ships are just being used to transport supplies and take us back and forth between planets. The ship we'll be using is ten times bigger than both my ship and Tak's ship put together. Call it a present from a Vortian friend of mine. I've been keeping it in the space station I have orbiting about Earth. It comes fully equipped with a storage system, 7 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a kitchen, a lab, which also serves as the medical bay, a control room, and a cloaking device. Unfortunately the cloaking device uses a lot of energy so we can only use that in an emergency. But otherwise, it's nearly fully stocked." he smiled widely at the siblings.

Gaz just shrugged. "Eh...just as long as I have my own room, everything will be good."

Dib, on the other hand, was practically speechless. "W...Wow! I had no idea! I can't wait to actually see it!"

"Well, you won't have to wait long. I want to start packing it up by tomorrow. The sooner we're ready to go, the better." Zim began his final pancake as Dib took a seat across from him.

It was at that precise moment that Membrane walked in. "Ah, there you are, Dib." Zim shrunk back in his seat a bit, his antennae lowering in a bit of annoyance at the older man's presence. As if just noticing him, Membrane turned his attention to Zim. His face was very serious as he addressed the Irken. "Zim...I take it you're feeling better today..."

Zim narrowed his eyes a bit. "Professor...well enough..."

Their gazes stayed locked a few moments longer before Membrane finally looked back at Dib and smiled. "Dib, I've given it some thought and have agreed to your proposal. A short space trip sounds like a great opportunity to get some research done."

Dib had to smile in relief at that bit of information. "Great, dad! You won't regret it! In fact, we're going to begin packing up the ship we're taking tomorrow if you want to help. That way you can get a good idea of what things will be like up there. But it may take a few trips."

Membrane nodded. "That's fine by me. A little manual labor is never a bad thing." With that said, he left to begin packing a few of his own things.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Zim sat up a bit. "I don't like him..."

Dib just rolled his eyes at that. "Well just get used to it. I'm not letting you leave him behind on Earth."

Zim just crossed his arms and "hmph'd" as he began to pout a bit.

Several disagreements later and Zim was finally ready to head out to get Tak's ship, thankfully in his own ship. It was much faster than taking Gir and more comfortable. The little bot needed a break after so many trips anyways.

Upon arriving at Dib's house, he had some difficulty getting by the security system but managed in a little under an hour. He was back at the house by around 3:00 to begin adjusting a few parts of the ship to help it run better. It didn't take long at all. It seemed Dib had taken fairly good care of it since he had first gotten it. It required very little work, and that fact just raised Zim's spirits even more. Things were running much smoother than he had expected they would. Dib had even made a few trips to the store already and packed up some food for the trip. And Gaz even packed a few things she figured they'd need a little later in the future.

With so much getting done in one day, Zim felt confident they'd be able to finish far ahead of schedule. It helped him to relax a bit more, and he even allowed himself some more time to rest and gain his strength back, though he knew there was still much to be done before they could leave. He still had to make sure all his ships had fuel and were running properly.

After many test flights, he finally pulled Dib aside to test his flight skills. He figured it would be safer having at least two pilots who could maneuver a ship in the case that one of them was unable to for any reason. They couldn't just depend on autopilot the entire time in case they needed to get out of any sticky situations.

Dib's ship flying skills were a bit dusty and he nearly crashed them into a few trees his first couple of tries. After about 2 hours of practice, he hadn't improved all that much in Zim's ship. The controls were different from the ones he had practiced on in Tak's ship. By around 9:00 at night, Zim gave up teaching Dib to fly his ship. The human would just have to work with Tak's ship and even then, his skills were a bit shaky.

Though flying Tak's ship alone made him a bit nervous, Dib knew he couldn't let that stop him from helping prepare. It would take too long using only Zim's ship to transport supplies to his space station. Zim figured dropping the supplies off first would be easier than trying to load it all in one trip. Getting everything up there and off of Earth was most important.

Getting an early start the next morning, Zim helped Dib memorize the route he should take to reach the space station. After a few trips back and forth between the station and Earth, Zim was able to let Dib continue work on storing supplies on the space station while he made one final trip to his base to gather any last second gadgets they may need.

In Zim's absence, Dib managed to convince his dad to begin helping him with some of the packing. Membrane was a bit skeptical at first of how safe Tak's ship was, claiming it looked very "unstable", but after giving it a thorough examination, he concluded that it may be able to support their weight so long as they packed lightly. Taking only two boxes with them this time, Dib allowed his father some time to get used to being in Tak's ship. It did little to help however after Dib had taken off. Membrane nearly had a heart attack at how fast and high they were traveling. Dib had already gotten used to the speeds and heights he had to go to fly the ship long ago. To him, it was just like taking a car ride. Membrane, on the other hand, kept requesting they go lower or slower every few minutes, but they were going into space and slowing down would make it nearly impossible to break through the Earth's atmosphere.

Once in space, however, Dib was able to slow things down just a bit for his father's sake. But Membrane wouldn't be satisfied until after they had landed on the space station. There was a huge docking bay that Dib was able to set the ship down in. As soon as Dib opened the front of the ship, Membrane scrambled out of the ship and practically kissed the ground, feeling much safer not having to deal with Dib's piloting abilities. Dib was soon to follow, pulling out a box with him.

Regaining his composure, Membrane helped Dib by also taking a box and following him. Leading his father to the room they were keeping all the boxes in until they could load them on the ship, Dib set his down next to the pile he had already gotten earlier that morning. The room was huge, bigger than any other room Membrane had ever set foot in. He looked around in complete awe at all the alien technology. It took all the self-control in him not to reach out and start tinkering with things. He wanted to so bad but kept his mind on task.

Looking over all the boxes already there, he turned to face Dib. "Don't you think this is a bit much for only a few weeks?"

Dib laughed weakly at that question. "Heh heh...yeah, well, you see...Oh! Look! We have such a nice view from up here, don't we?" he pointed to one end of the ship that was just like a huge window, trying to change the subject.

Membrane looked to where Dib was pointing just to have his eyes land on one of the most beautiful images of Earth he had ever seen. The blue planet seemed to glow with wonder as Membrane was captivated by it. Forgetting everything else for the time being, he made his way over to get a closer look. "I can't believe I'm actually up here in space looking down on Earth. This is the most amazing experience of my life."

Knowing his dad probably wasn't up for another trip in Tak's ship quite yet, Dib spoke up from behind him. "Hey, I have an idea. Why don't I go ahead and get the rest of those boxes while you stay here and look around? You can just help me when I get back. Just don't touch anything or Zim will have a cow."

Membrane was perfectly fine with that idea, not wanting to risk Dib's flying abilities twice in one day. It actually helped things go faster as Dib was able to pack more boxes into Tak's ship. By the end of the day, they had managed to get all the boxes onto the space station. It pleased Zim how close they were to finishing and it still left them with at least 3 days before the Tallest were even supposed to reach the planet. All they had to do now was load his ship and they could get going. It was perfect.

After spending one last day loading everything into his huge ship, he allowed them one last day to say goodbye to everything they couldn't take with them and grab any last things they may have forgotten. He didn't know how long they'd be gone but he knew it would probably be longer than they expected.

The day passed much too quickly for everyone save Membrane who was too excited to get back up into space and begin his research. As the day progressed, each individual performed their own separate rituals of coping with the fact they were leaving the planet for at least a year.

Gaz probably took it the hardest out of everyone. For her final day, she took Tak's ship to meet up with friends from home. She had no idea why Dib seemed to find flying it so difficult at first. To her it was second nature.

Leaving the ship at home, she planned to meet 2 of her friends at the movies. Though she would never admit it, it was hard telling them she was going on a year long vacation. Even harder not telling them what she knew was coming, what she knew was going to happen to both of them. She wished she could take them with her, but it would raise too many questions in the end, from them and her father. She didn't want to deal with that, didn't want to tell them she was pregnant. It would already be painfully obvious when she came back. The most she could do was tell them to be careful, and watch their backs. She needn't give any reason. They would listen. She never joked about such things. They would understand soon enough.

Despite his lack of friends, Dib had a fairly hard time dealing with the fact he hoped he'd never have to deal with. Even with everything that had happened between Zim and him, he had never wanted to admit he had lost to the Irken Empire. His whole life had revolved around protecting the planet from aliens, no matter how much they had shunned him. Accepting failure was something he never thought he'd ever have to face. The only comfort he could give himself at this point was the hope that they'd be back within a year with help to defeat the Irken Empire. But until that happened, he would continue to feel the guilt that he hadn't been able to do anything to help sooner.

He didn't feel motivated to go out anywhere in particular before their departure. Most of the day he just spent in his nearly empty room, wondering if it would even still be here when he got back. He knew Zim had said they were only coming for reproduction purposes but that didn't mean there wouldn't be any fighting involved. As he sat there imagining what the future would hold for Earth, he nearly forgot one place he meant to visit before they left: His mother's grave. It may be his last chance and he didn't want to miss it.

Even Zim had a few things he felt a need to attend to before they left. He had wanted this, hadn't he? He had wanted to leave this putrid planet for so many years now. So why did he feel so reluctant to leave now? He wanted to feel happy about it but for some unknown reason couldn't even bring himself to enjoy it a little bit. It felt just like that time he had gone back to his base and every time after it.

Remembering what had made him feel better that day, he decided to spend most of the day with Gir, spoiling him just this once. As he expected, the little S.I.R. unit was delighted and dragged Zim back and forth between different fast food restaurants, buying everything Zim would agree to buy him. It was worth it to see Gir so happy.

By the time the day was over, Zim had one last thing on his list of things to do. He wanted one last chance to watch the sky above change colors as the sun set in the horizon. Taking Gir with him, he returned to the place he thought they'd have the best sight of the setting sun.

As Dib reached the site of his mother's grave, he was greeted by the sight of Zim and Gir sitting nearby on the hill, watching the sunset in peace. Facing a completely different direction, they didn't seem to notice Dib's presence as he came closer. Both were in their disguises, though Zim's antennae were poking out from his wig as he relaxed. Gir, in his little green and black dog suit, was cuddled up close to Zim's lap, nearly fast asleep.

Being as quiet as he possibly could, Dib snuck up behind the two, plucking Zim's wig off as soon as he was close enough to do so. Zim's antennae shot up straight as he turned quickly to see Dib standing behind him, smiling. Though a little embarrassed for being caught off guard, Zim let out a relieved sigh. "Dib...don't sneak up on me like that..." he breathed out as he turned back around. "What are you doing out here anyways?" he asked as he closed his eyes to enjoy a gentle breeze that swept by.

Taking a seat next to Zim on the ground, he handed Zim his wig. "Just came up to see my mom's grave one last time before we leave."

Zim looked at the wig once before setting it aside a moment to continue petting Gir. It wasn't like anybody else would see him without it up there. "Are you scared we may never come back?"

Dib shook his head before looking back to watch the orange and red of the sky mix and blend together. "Not really...I mean, a year isn't too long when you think about it. I'm sure it will pass quicker than we think." he looked back at Zim with a lazy smile before letting his eyes drop a little lower. "It's beautiful."

Zim, who wasn't paying much attention to Dib at the moment, just nodded his head. "Yeah, I mean, just look at all the different colors blending and..."

Dib had to laugh at that. "I wasn't talking about the sunset. I was talking about...oh, never mind." he said, blushing a bit. Zim just gave Dib a curious look before shaking it off and returning his gaze to the sky. "Anyways, do you remember the first time we came up here together?" Dib began.

Zim smiled at the memory. "Yeah, you were having one of your little baby Dib-fits again and went crying to your mommy about it." Zim snickered.

It was cruel but the pout he received from Dib was worth it. "Well, it wouldn't have happened if you hadn't been such a jerk! But do you remember what happened after?"

Zim couldn't help but laugh at least a little before answering. "How could I not? It was amazing, mainly because Zim amazing, but still. That's one night I'll never forget."

Dib smiled a little at that answer. "Yeah, will I think it happened here."

Zim's face went confused again. "You think what happened here? The sex? Of course, it happened here! You were practically begging for it by the time we got around to it."

Dib sighed once. "I'm not talking about that! I'm talking about this!" he reached out to place a hand on Zim's stomach gently.

Zim blushed as the realization dawned on him. "Oh! You mean that! I think so too...that it happened here...and not somewhere else..." Zim was a bit flustered.

Dib pulled his hand back. "Do you think we'll ever come back here again?"

Zim didn't know for sure, but the boy hadn't been this happy in days. He didn't want Dib getting upset again. "Yeah...in fact, it can be the first place we go when we get back if you want." he pulled Dib against him.

Dib simply nodded his head as he leaned more up against the Irken. "I'd like that..." he closed his eyes to relax.

They stayed watching the sky until the last rays of light had left the sky completely and the first stars began to dance across the night sky.

The next morning brought about an early start. Zim demanded everybody be dressed and ready to go by 5:00 a.m. The Tallest could arrive at any point now, and Zim wanted to be out of there before that happened. Risking an encounter with them could be deadly, and he wasn't in any mood to die today. Rushing everybody around seemed nearly impossible.

Dib was tired from last night, Membrane kept running around making sure they hadn't forgotten anything, and Gaz nearly killed Zim when he kicked open her door to scream that she had to get ready. Getting up to the space station was going to be even worse, unfortunately. With only two pilots that knew the way, Zim and Dib were going to have to take separate ships. This, unfortunately, caused more problems between Zim and Membrane.

Zim didn't want to have to fly up there with Membrane, but Membrane didn't want Gaz going alone with Zim. Even Gaz had a hard time convincing her dad that she should just go up with Zim. Membrane only agreed after she promised to bring a baseball bat for protection. Zim just rolled his eyes at that. It was going to be a long trip. With how much both Zim and Gaz had grown over the years, it was a tight fit. Zim didn't mind being cramped into a ship with Dib but Gaz was a completely different story. Thankfully, the ship they would be taking for the rest of the trip would provide enough room for them to not have to spend much time together.

Both Zim and Dib brought their ships in at about the same time to land in a slightly smaller docking bay that his larger ship had. Dib had only seen it once before but the ship was even more amazing on the inside. It was bigger than his house by a lot. Dib wanted to explore almost the second he set foot on it but knew Zim wanted to first get a safe distance away from Earth. Membrane didn't know what the big rush was about but followed the two into the control room as soon as he was onboard. Zim didn't want to waste any more time getting ready. The ship was fully loaded and ready to go.

Making his way over to one of the consoles in the room, he began typing in a few commands. The ship jerked a bit as they could hear the engines powering up. He knew it would take some time to completely charge so in the meantime he began typing in a few other commands that would be useful in case something came up. The ship jerked again as it began to hover slightly above the ground of the space station and make its way out into space. He wished the powering up would go a little faster but bigger ships required more time to start up.

Maneuvering it out a good distance and setting the coordinates they wanted, the ship began to turn in the right direction. Zim's stress began to melt away as every second brought them closer and closer to actually taking off and with no sign of the Irken armada anywhere in sight. He nearly let his guard down when the ship reached its last 30 seconds of charging up. Then it happened. The ship shook violently almost the second the ship reached 20 seconds. The vibration nearly sent everybody to the ground.

"What the hell was that?!" Dib asked frantically as he moved over to one of the windows. But he didn't see anything. A moment passed before another violent vibration passed through the ship.

"SHIT!" Zim cursed as he brought up what looked to be a radar. Almost instantly it picked up the presence of three other smaller ships flying around the exterior of his ship, firing multiple lasers at their engines. "Damn that Bixxle! He must have told the Tallest we may try to escape considering he told me in advance that they were coming. Should have expected them to send out a few ships ahead of them to stop up if we tried to escape."

Another hit sent Dib to the ground as Membrane tried to scramble forward to catch him. Sitting up and rubbing his head, Dib felt his father wrap one arm around him and another around Gaz to keep them safe. Staying kneeled to the ground, he yelled out. "I don't know what's going on here, but you need to get us out of here!"

Zim was fighting to stay standing as he continued to type in commands. "I know! I know! We just need to last 10 more seconds!"

The next shake sent Zim flying forward a bit against the console before falling back with a painful yelp. Bringing one arm around his abdomen and another hand up to grip the console tightly, he managed to hoist himself up to his feel though he was a bit shaky. Dib yelled out when Zim hit the ground. "Zim!" he pushed away from his father to help Zim. Another hit. Zim was sent falling back again but this time against Dib who would have hit the ground again if Membrane hadn't reached him in time to help hold him up.

As the last second ticked away, Zim brought a fist down to hit a big red button before yelling out. "Hang on tight to something! This is going to get a little bumpy!"

The command must have gotten lost in the eruption of sound and motion as the ship took off at an incredibly high speed, escaping the attacks of the three Irken ships. The three pilots of the ships seemed shocked that the ship had managed to get away and at such a high velocity. Then the leader spoke up. "Damn! Come on. We need to return to the massive and report this to the Tallest."

Their speedy escape only lasted a few minutes at the most but it got them a good safe distance away from Earth before finally slowing down. The command to hold onto something tightly truly had been lost, as everybody seemed to have been scattered about by the sudden takeoff. Who knows how long it may have been before any of them began to come around again. Membrane was the first to speak up as he sat up from his position on the ground. "Is everybody alright?" he asked in a concerned voice.

Gaz was the first to respond. "Well, I'm not dead at least."

Dib sat up much slower, holding his head and letting out a small groan. "I think so. How about you, Zim?" he asked but there was no answer. "Zim?" Still no answer. Dib instantly began looking around frantically for Zim. But Zim didn't seem to be anywhere in the room. "Hey! I can't find Zim!" he said in a panicked voice as he got up to search the rest of the ship for the Irken.

Making his way down one hallway, he checked every room along the way until he reached the last room at the very end. Opening up the door, he came to stand in a big dark bedroom with a huge circular bed in the middle. It seemed empty as he turned to leave but stopped when he noticed a light on in a room connected to the bedroom. The door was just barely opened a crack as he made his way over to it. As he approached, he heard a few curses and some heavy breathing. "Zim?" he pushed open the door and sure enough found the Irken standing over a sink, panting. Zim seemed to be having a difficult time breathing as he gripped the sink tightly.

"Zim?" Dib asked again as he came up behind the alien to rub his back gently up and down, thinking he had just got sick again. But what he saw in the sink was far worse and had Dib letting out a gasp. Blood. It wasn't a lot but just enough to have Dib worried. "Zim, you're bleeding! Come on. I want to get a better look at your wounds." he tried to pull Zim away to the bedroom but couldn't get the alien to budge.

The only response he got from Zim was a wet cough before he spit out some more blood. "Oh, God. It's internal." he said as he went back to rubbing Zim's back. "Come on, Zim. Let's get my dad to look you over."

He tried to pull the Irken with him again but Zim just placed a hand on Dib's arm. "There's no need. I'll be fine. I can fix it up in the medical bay like I did at my base."

That had Dib's eyes widening. "Your base?! You mean, you knew about this and didn't tell me?!"

Zim just smirked a bit as he straightened and wiped some blood away from his mouth. "It's nothing serious. I just noticed it when I had my computer perform another body scan. The procedure to fix it is really quite easy. The rough treatment was just a little too much. Undid some of my computer's work. But it shouldn't take long to fix. So, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to do just that and then see how much damage those bastards did to my ship." he pushed past Dib to head down to his medical bay but nearly collapsed as he tried to walk.

Dib caught him in his arms before he fell too far. "Like hell you will! You can barely walk." he snapped before sighing gently. "Listen, Zim. You've been up for several days now. Why don't you try to get some sleep? I don't think we have to worry about anyone else attacking us any time soon."

Zim simply nodded his head slightly, feeling his eyes drooping. With that, Dib easily scooped Zim up into his arms so he could carry the alien into the bedroom and lay him down on the soft covers. "Think you can survive until after you wake up?"

Zim just closed his eyes once before opening them again. "Yeah...I haven't actually lost that much blood. Promise to be here when I wake up?"

Dib let the smallest of smiles grace his face. "Sure."

It helped Zim to sleep hearing that answer. Shortly after the Irken had drifted off, Dib returned to find his father, whom he owed an explanation. Membrane wasn't happy about their current situation, but decided getting mad about it wouldn't help anything. It wasn't like it was Dib's fault any of this was happening, and he doubted he would be any happier had he stayed on Earth. Instead, he'd do his best to make the most of it. The least he could do was do what he had originally set out to do. Study. And now he'd have even more time to spend with Dib and Gaz. Perhaps it wouldn't be as bad as he thought.

After speaking with his father, Dib returned to the room he had left Zim in to wait for him to wake up. Seeing him finally getting some much needed rest helped calm Dib's nerves at least a little. The Irken really had been overworking himself the past week. Even after Zim woke up, Dib tried to keep him from working too hard. Thankfully, his injuries weren't as bad as Dib had feared and the damage to the ship was minimal. Both could be easily fixed. In the meantime, the ship could slowly store up more energy while they drifted through space.

The first couple of days took quite a bit of adjusting to get used to traveling on a ship in space. Gaz spent most of her time in her room while Membrane took to exploring about a fraction of the ship. It was far bigger than it had looked on the outside. Dib hadn't been feeling quite up to exploring any of it yet. He spent as much time in the room he was sharing with Zim as Gaz spent in hers.

As the hours passed, he occupied himself with unpacking a few boxes. Zim, on the other hand, had a whole list of things to do, but it was hard to get anything done with Dib constantly nagging him to slow down and rest more often. It was driving him crazy.

One day while Dib was gone making breakfast, Zim decided to snoop around since Dib barely let him do anything else. Finding a box that was only half unpacked, Zim began searching through it to see exactly what the Dib thought was so important that he had to pack. A lot of it was clothes but as he dug deeper, he found a few things of interest near the bottom. It looked as though Dib had brought a few photo albums with him.

The first one he looked through had him closing it almost the second he had opened it. It was filled with tons of photos Dib had taken of him. It was creepy and had him shuddering as he shook his head and mumbled to himself. "Crazy human..."

He found a second one with more of the same before finally coming across one that seemed much older than 5 years. Inside were several family photos from what looked to be at least 12 years old. Dib looked to be about 4 in most of them and even younger in a few others. There were plenty of baby pictures taken of Gaz. But what really caught his eye was the fact that in nearly all of them, that purple haired woman from the take he had watched was there. If it weren't for the gentle smile and longer hair, Zim would have sworn she was Gaz.

Taking one of the pictures out to get a better look, he made his way out of the room to head toward the kitchen he had onboard. Zim entered the room just as Dib was finishing up a piece of toast and talking with Membrane.

Dib looked up the instant he realized Zim had walked in and smiled. "Hey, Zim. Want me to make you something to eat?" he asked before noticing the photo Zim was looking at. "Hey, what are you looking at?" He got up to take a look for himself. "Oh..." his voice fell to a whisper. "It's mom..."

Zim looked up at Dib. "Dib?" he was hesitant to ask his next questions. "What was your mother like and what happened to her?"

The question caught Dib completely off guard as he fell completely silent. Rather than answering right away, he glanced over at his father who just smiled sadly and nodded. Looking back at Zim, he smiled a little. "Well, she was really great, the nicest person you could have met. She loved space almost as much as she loved our family. When I was little, she'd hold me every night until I fell asleep. I really loved having her around and I bet she would have loved to meet you. I used to idolize her and she's the one that got me interested in space and aliens. But she was always sick. Always going to the doctors until one night...One night she...I was four when she died. I...I don't remember much of it." he lied. The details of that night were ones he'd rather not go into. "I wish I could remember more about her but...but I..." The memories hurt so badly. Dib didn't know if he could continue any farther.

"It's alright, Dib." Membrane spoke up. "I'll finish up. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever met. We met in college and it was love at first sight. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, but she was scared. She knew she was sick. She had a really rare blood disease. It had started affecting her during her last year of hi-skool. But I didn't care. I wanted to be with her no matter what. That's why after we were married, we had such a hard time deciding whether to have children or not. There was a 50 chance either Dib or Gaz would have it passed on to them by their mother. But we were young and reckless. Before we even knew it, we had two wonderful, healthy children. She was so happy and loved them both so much. But...the disease doesn't develop at birth. If one of them had it, it could begin at any time now. That's why I'm so thankful for every day that passes without them being affected. And I'm so glad we weren't as careful as we had planned to be. The hardest part of it all though, was trying to explain all this to Dib and Gaz when they were so young. We knew it was coming...her death, I mean...but I don't think Dib and Gaz had grasped the full meaning until it finally happened."

Dib, who had been staring at the ground the entire time his father talked, finally looked up. "The day she died, I felt as though something inside of me had died with her. It hurt more than anything I had ever experienced. I almost thought I'd never recover from the shock. But after a few months, I was actually able to smile again."

Zim suddenly felt bad for bringing up such painful memories as his eyes dropped back down to the photo he held. "Oh...She was very pretty...you know...for a human."

Dib smiled a little before wrapping arms lightly around Zim to pull him close and whisper against the top of Zim's head. "I just wish you could have met her."

Zim just kept still in Dib's arms, his eyes staying glued to the photo as he thought. The Dib had already been through so much. What was he doing then? How could he just stand here and let this happen? He suddenly felt a need to leave the room, to get away from the boy before... "I have to go...I've got some work to do. I'm not very hungry. Sorry." he said as he pushed away from Dib to leave the room in a hurry.

The action had Dib turning to look at his father who seemed just as confused as he was.

Zim had run most of the way until he was almost to his room. He didn't know why, but he just felt a need to run. It wasn't until he was about halfway down the hall to the room that he slowed down then stopped to catch his breath. Leaning against a wall, he closed his eyes to recollect himself. What was this so hard?! Why did it hurt so much telling himself he didn't love the boy?! Couldn't love him?! Why?! It shouldn't have been! Each day the risks just continued to pile up. That should have been enough to make him stop but...

A hand rested on his shoulder from behind. His eyes snapped open as he turned to slap the hand away.

Dib instantly brought back his hand to hold. "Ouch! What was that for, Zim?" he said as he tried to read the alien's face. Zim's facial expression was a mixture of emotions ranging from anger to fear to hurt. Zim took a step back as though he would run. "What's wrong with you, Zim? Just tell me, please." he tried to take a step forward.

Zim felt cornered. He wanted to run but then Dib would know there was something wrong and keep chasing him. Instead, he just let his head drop as his shoulders slumped. "Do you hate me?"

The question was the last thing Dib expected to hear from Zim as he blinked his eyes in shock. "What?! No! Of course not!"

"Then you know why..." he looked back up, his eyes glassy. "You know why I said what I said. You know why it can't be more. Can't be love. Right?"

Dib didn't know how to respond as he just remained silent.

"There's too much pain involved. You know the feeling. You've experienced it before. I don't want to put you through any more pain." he looked close to breaking down now.

As he turned to walk away, Dib finally spoke up. "And what about you? You've felt it too?"

Zim stopped in his tracks. "Yes...I'd rather not talk about it."

Before Zim could take another step, Dib was pulling Zim back into his arms to hold tightly. "Please...you don't need to tell me what happened, but please...Just give me a name. Who hurt you?"

Zim didn't feel he had the strength to break free again as he gave in. "His name was Ghost..."

It was all Zim said and all Dib wanted to know for now. He didn't want to push the subject any further. All he wanted to do in that moment was hold Zim tightly and never let go. He held the Irken until Zim couldn't stand any longer. As soon as Zim had fallen asleep in his arms, he carried the Irken back to their room to get some sleep.

A/N: And there's the end of Chapter 7 for you all. Hope you enjoyed and I promise to try and have chapter 8 up faster but knowing me, it will probably come out to be about 3 times longer than I originally had planned. In that case, it will be worth the wait. And before I forget, I could still really use some more names for characters, females in particular. And if you want to give me a name for some random planets, that would also be really helpful. I know some people sent in names and I may use some of them for planets unless some of you can come up with good ones. I'd really appreciate it cause remember, I suck at making up names. XD Well, it's about midnight now. I might head to bed soon…or not…I don't know…I'm not really tired. I slept most of the day. I've been a bit sick lately and sleeping has become one of my new hobbies during the day.

And now to thank everybody that reviewed on that last chapter.

To Sora4president: Oh no's! Not the cream cheese! We're all gonna die!!!! DX But don't worry. The baby will be fine. You'll see what Dib does in this chapter. And as for Bixxle, he disappears until later in the story…I think…I don't think I need him for a while. I could be wrong though. I'm just writing this story as I go along. My outline is still a bit sketchy and leaves room for expansion throughout. And yes, I know that leaving you at that cliff hanger, especially for that long, was evil but it was the perfect spot to cut off that chapter. I'm sorry. But I wouldn't be me if I weren't at least a little evil. XD Hope this update makes up for it though.

To ZADR-Mistress: Don't worry. Zim's not dying yet. It would ruin the Mpreg if I killed him off now and we don't want that. Dib's just confused and caught in the middle. Poor insane boy…Er…Yeah, well, sorry for the long wait on this update but I had so much going on and it really was a long chapter to write. Hope you enjoy this one. I'll try to have the next update up faster.

To scarlet pikachu: In response to both of your reviews, yes, I know it was a bit cruel to do that to Gaz but don't worry. She shall have her revenge soon enough. And I also love sunsets! Your review actually inspired that sunset scene in this chapter. So I dedicate that to you. I may even draw a picture sometime soon. Thanks for reviewing. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

To Apple Pornography: Yes, I also know that feeling of wanting to get something done so badly that you end up staying up a few extra hours finishing it. It happens to me almost every night. Yes, I tend to make sad chapters. This chapter is even sadder. I put too much angst in my writing. Oh well. I think we all have an unconscious fetish too. At least I do. Or maybe I'm just weird. I don't know. Unfortunately, things get a little screwy in this chapter again. Poor Zim and Dib with their unresolved sexual tension….I'm horrible. XD And this should kinda answer what happens what happens when the Tallest get there…except their not really in this chapter…They're in the next one a little. I know what you mean when you say Rilzit is long. I fell behind a few times and it took me forever to catch up. But I am now and am still waiting for an update. In fact I just caught up with Monsters and Ladybugs and want to go back and read it again until they update that too. It is such an awesome DADR story. Thanks for the review and sorry for the long wait.

And to anybody else that reviews- Thank you all. Much love to all my reviewers!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Holy shit! She's alive! Don't worry. I'll take care of that. holds gun to head and shoots self I deserve that for how long I've made you all wait for this next chapter. But seriously, I wasn't being lazy. It was just a long-ass chapter to write. It came out 4 pages of my writing longer than the last chapter, and my writing is tiny. By the time I finish filling up a page , you usually can't even see any more white on the paper. It usually ranges around 2,000 + words per page of my writing so yeah. It's long. At least the wait was worth it cause this chapter is the longest I've written in the entire trilogy and it contains smutty ZADR goodness for those of you waiting for some smex. 8DThough I must admit, I rushed the ending a bit cause I just wanted to finish this chapter. It took me over three months to write and type! Can you blame me? I'll try to get the next chapter up a lot faster than this one, but I'm not making any promises cause I don't even know how long it will take me anymore. My writing seems to be getting longer and slower. So sorry for the wait. Hope I haven't lost any reviewers. For those of you still reading, enjoy chapter 8- Month 5: Separation. Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own anything except my sucky planet name in this chapter and the random characters I was too lazy to name.

A war was raging, and Zim was fighting a losing battle. Lazily, he turned over in bed, burying his face in a pillow and groaning. He had already lost the first battle to his stomach earlier that morning, and he felt as though he were about to lose the second battle as well. He had already heaved everything he had recently eaten hours ago, but still he felt horrible. He wished he could just die so he wouldn't have to live in this agony any longer. He wasn't sure if he'd even be able to drag himself back to the bathroom were his stomach to win again. The last thing he wanted to do was move around. It was already bad enough that his clothes were beginning to feel a little tight on him. He didn't want to deal with the pain of moving around when he felt so sick.

Dib sat up with Zim, running a hand up and down the Irken's back gently in an attempt to soothe. It did little to help, however. The human boy was getting used to the early mornings, but he only wished there was more he could do to help Zim. He felt horrible for all the pain he was putting the other through.

After several more minutes of complete silence, Dib finally spoke up in the quietest of whispers. "I take it you don't want breakfast again..."

The only response he got was a muffled groan. Despite how crappy he felt, Zim managed to lift his head just a little. "I think I'm gonna throw up again. Can you help me to the bathroom?"

Dib gave a simple nod. "Sure." he said as he got up out of bed to carry Zim to the bathroom door. Setting Zim back down on his feet, he moved away only after the pale form had regained his balance, though a bit shaky at first. "I'll go ahead and get you a drink." Dib said, gesturing to the door.

Holding onto the bathroom door for extra support, Zim just nodded. "Thanks." he turned to enter the bathroom, closing the door behind him gently. As he had predicted, he proceeded to empty whatever was left in his stomach until he felt satisfied it was completely empty this time.

As Dib made his way to the onboard kitchen, he came to find his father having an early morning breakfast. He smiled as Dib entered the room to look through what drinks they had onboard. "Ah, Dib. Care to join me for some breakfast?"

Dib just continued searching as he spoke. "Sorry, dad. Zim's having another bad morning. I'm just looking for a drink to bring him."

Membrane just nodded as he brought a hand up to his chin. "Hmmm. I see. Morning sickness. Try bringing him some orange juice. I had to bring some to your sister earlier, and it helped her feel better."

Taking his father's advice, he poured some into a glass for Zim before leaving the kitchen with a "thank you." Upon returning to the room, Dib found Zim was waiting outside the bathroom door, sitting with his back to it and knees up to his chest.

"When will it end? I don't know how much more of this I can take." he said in a weak voice.

Dib simply came to sit next to Zim so he could pull the Irken closer to him as he handed Zim the juice. "Here. Maybe this will help a little."

Zim allowed Dib to pull him close and he leaned into the human's chest and took the cup. "Thanks." he said again as he began taking slow, small sips. Before long, however, he sighed at set the still mostly full cup to the side before burying his head back in his arms. "Can you help me back to bed? I want to sleep some more."

"Yeah..." Dib responded as he shifted to stand up, wrapping one arm around Zim's waist when Zim used another arm to wrap around the back of Dib's neck. Getting back to their feet, Dib dipped down low to scoop Zim up again before making his way back to the bed with a sigh. "I'm sorry..."

As soon as Zim was set back down in the soft covers, he looked back up at Dib curiously. "Why? It's not your fault this is happening."

Dib could only frown more at that. "Yes, it is. I'm the one who impregnated you. You wouldn't have to be dealing with any of this if it weren't for me. Not to mention I feel terrible about letting Earth down."

Zim merely smiled sadly up at Dib. "Don't blame yourself, Dib. This is as much my fault as it is yours. I was asking for it. I wanted to have sex with you that one time. I wouldn't have let you if I hadn't. How were you supposed to know I could get pregnant? Hell, I barely knew." he wrapped his arms around Dib's waist to pull him closer.

Dib, however, just looked away, a little annoyed. "Well, it may of helped at least a little to know beforehand that the males of your species could get pregnant..."

Zim just rolled his eyes momentarily. "That's besides the point, Dib-thing. What I'm trying to tell you is to stop being so damn pessimistic all of a sudden. I thought you were supposed to be the optimistic one."

Dib looked back at Zim. "I was, but I thought that annoyed the hell out of you."

Having Dib's attention back on him, he pulled the human back into the bed with him, just wanted Dib to hold him as he slept. "It does, but that doesn't mean I want you to stop. At least one of us should be optimistic about it and seeing as how I'm going to be the one going through all the pain, that just leaves you."

Dib easily allowed Zim to pull him back into bed as he wrapped his arms tightly around Zim to nuzzle the top of Zim's head shortly after he had settled again. A small smile came to his face before falling away just as quickly. "Are you saying you're not even a little excited about becoming a parent?"

Zim remained silent a moment before giving his answer. "Yes...no...I...I don't know...I guess I'm mostly just nervous right now. I know nothing of raising children and..." his sentence trailed off suddenly.

Dib raised an eyebrow at Zim's sudden quietness before just shrugging it off. "Yeah, well I can see why you'd be nervous, but that's normal. I'm nervous too. But I'm sure we'll do just fine. We just have to take one step at a time."

Zim just let another sigh escape his mouth. "You just don't get it though. Irkens don't usually raise their young. They're sent to training shortly after training. Even parents of live births are only allowed the keep their smeets a couple of months, and that's if they're lucky. Some smeets are taken away immediately. Irken parents aren't provided the knowledge to raise their own young. It gets in the way of their own training. That's what PAKs are for. They're not just used to keep us alive. They're used to keep us from taking back up old instincts that have long been dead in Irken society."

Dib simply let his eyes slip closed as he responded. "Well, just be glad this baby is half human. It may not need a PAK at all. As for raising it, we can look at that as a learning experience. I'm sure you'll do fine."

Zim nodded very lightly against Dib's chest as sleep began to win him over again. "I hope so..." With that, he fell into another dreamless sleep.

Dib was trapped. Zim had been sleeping peacefully for several hours now and it didn't seem he had any intentions of waking up any time soon. He contemplated whether he should get up and risk waking the alien up or just stay in bed and watch Zim sleep for another hour or two. It was a hard decision to make. He wanted to jump out of bed so he could stretch and grab a small bite to eat, but he also didn't want to wake Zim up from the first good sleep he had in the last 24 hours. The night before had been horrible. Zim had been tossing and turning through most of it. But now, Zim was completely still except for his antennae which twitched and curled every couple of seconds. Otherwise, he was curled up tightly against Dib's body, breathing easily.

Dib's second option won out as he settled back into the covers and held Zim tighter. The Irken stirred slightly but didn't wake up. If it weren't for Gir bursting into the room a few minutes later, Dib was sure he would have been stuck there for a fairly long time.

Zim came to with a jolt as the hyper active robot rocketed into the room with a loud squeal. The startled look on his face was quickly replaced with a pissed off look as soon as Gir began jumping up and down on the bed between Zim and Dib. "GIR! What is the meaning of this?!"

"MASTAH! Can you buy me some taquitos?!" he asked excitedly.

Zim gave him an unamused look. "And where do you expect me to get these taquitos?!"

"Ummm...Zim?" Dib tapped Zim's shoulder.

"WHAT?!" he asked frustrated. He turned to look where Dib was pointing. Almost instantly, his antennae perked up straight and eyes went wide when he saw what was right outside the window they had in their room.

Outside was a fairly large sized planet. It looked to be a reddish orange color and the surface seemed to glow brightly as though a huge light were shining down on it. But what really caught Dib's eye were all the small ships that seemed to be buzzing around outside, going to and from the planet. It certainly did seem quite busy.

"Oh, look. We're here already. That was fast." Zim stated blankly. They had only been traveling for a little over a month now. He couldn't believe they had come this far already.

"Where are we exactly?" Dib asked, wanting to know details of their whereabouts.

"Fleeria. It's one of the stops I programmed this ship to make. This planet is well known for being one of the biggest vacation spots in the universe, mainly because there are lots of shops and restaurants. Aliens come from everywhere just to spend a few days on the planet's surface. Not to mention, it's fairly cheap. I thought it would be the perfect spot to fuel up and grab any supplies we may need. And it's safe to assume we won't need any disguises. With so many tourists around it's a safe bet that most of them won't even notice us. They'll all be too caught up in shopping and eating. But the place is huge and crowded. I don't want you straying too far. It's too easy to get lost." Zim explained.

Dib couldn't help but smile wider and wider with each word out of the Irken's mouth, bouncing slightly in excitement. "REALLY?! We get to go down there?!" Dib asked excitedly.

Zim just waved off Dib's excitement with a hand. "Yes. Yes. But I'm serious about not getting lost. I don't want to have to go searching for you at the end of the day. Now, where did Gir go...OH!?" Zim suddenly scrambled back on the bed, the covers falling to his waist. Gir popped his head out from underneath the covers and smiled up at Zim. "GIR!" Zim screeched in anger. "DON'T TOUCH ME THERE! YOUR HANDS ARE FREEZING!"

"Aaawww...but I wanted to say hi to the baby!" Gir scrambled forward to sit better in Zim's lap so he could nuzzle the bulge under Zim's shirt. Zim winced a bit at the feeling of cold hands on his stomach again. "Hehehe..." the little SIR unit giggled. "It's moooooving!"

"Well, you can say hi to it after it's out of my body!" he tried to kick Gir away. Gir giggled once more before running out of the room to probably go wake up Gaz or something. Zim just shook his head and muttered something under his breath like "crazy robot" before flopping back down onto his back. It was going to be a long day.

Dib was too excited to stay in bed, so he took the opportunity to get up and get ready. After grabbing a quick something to eat, he proceeded to take a fast shower and grab a fresh pair of clothes to jump into.

Zim was much more sluggish in his movements. He spent at least another 15 minutes laying back in bed before finally deciding to get up and ready. Humans were so slow. Even with the head start, Zim was ready long before Dib. All he really had to do was pull on another uniform top and pair of pants. And while Membrane and Gaz got ready, he decided it must be safe enough to eat a little something before they left, however, he had the feeling they'd eat at a restaurant on the planet come nightfall.

When it seemed everybody was set to go, Zim spent a few minutes explaining a few things to them all. "I've set up trackers on all of you just in case. The booklets I gave to you are to help translate any of the signs you can't read, though most of it will be in Irken." he indicated to the small books he had handed the humans. "Now, there isn't much trouble you can get into on this planet but if you really need help, just push the button in the middle of the belts I've given you to wear. I've given you each a fair amount of monies to buy anything you think you'll need, but save some for later tonight when we eat. I want us to meet up as soon as it gets dark back in front of the ships. I only want to spend 18 hours at the most on the planet so make sure to keep track of the time. With that said, let's get going and have fun."

When everything was said and done, they split into two groups and headed down to the planet's surface using both Zim's and Tak's ships. For Dib, the planet was even more amazing up close. It was much busier than it looked from far away and the aliens he saw all around were unbelievable. Never in his life had he expected to see so many different species in one spot. Some were short, some were tall, some had fur, some had lots of legs or tentacles, and some had horns rather than antennae. The list could go on and on for hours. It was a lot to take in all at once. The only thing Dib was certain of was that their weren't many Irkens from what he could see.

As they came closer to the planet's surface, Dib had to redirect his attention back to Zim's ship. He didn't want to get lost before they even touched ground. Following Zim to a tall looking building that resembled an Earth parking garage, they set their ships down in two empty spaces they found next to each other. Being so small in comparison to some of the other ships around, it was an easy fit.

Once parked, they proceeded to all jump out into the dimly lit room. Zim led the way to the exit just to stop right before walking out. Dib stopped also, looking at Zim. "Why'd you stop? Something wrong?"

Zim waved off Dib's worry with one hand as he reached back to retrieve something from his PAK. "No. Nope. Just forgot to give you these." he produced four pairs of sunglasses. "This planet has two suns so it'd be best to protect your eyes either until they adjust to the lighting or it gets dark." he handed each of them a pair before putting on his own. His eyes were much more accustomed to adjusting to darkness rather than intense light.

Zim was right. Even with the sunglasses, the light was blinding. And the heat was no better. It felt like they were out in the middle of a desert, though one would never think that just by looking at it. The area was structured just like an outdoor market with lots of open booths, however, the place did have some city like qualities as well. Though not as many, there were some towering building like structures like the one they had come out of.

Unable to see too well at first, Dib clung to Zim as he led them through the crowds of active shoppers to a more open area. Zim stopped in the middle and turned back to them as soon as Dib had let go. "Alright. Here's where we can split up if you'd like. Just remember to meet back by the ships as soon as the second sun sets. It should be easy enough to find." he pointed to the building. "It's the tallest building around. So keep track of the time. It should be dark in about 12 hours." he said with a nod to assure himself.

Gir was the first to rocket off into the crowd with a squeal. "I'm gonna buy clothes for the baby!"

Zim called out after him. "Don't get lost, Gir!" though he wasn't sure if the insane robot had caught any of that as he sighed.

Gaz and Membrane wasted no time in wandering off to go do some shopping of their own. Although fascinated by all the alien life forms around, Membrane was more interested in tinkering around with some of the technology he found. Gaz was also caught up in her own search for some cool looking video games.

Dib preferred staying close to Zim and helping with some of the supplies. Dib wasn't much into shopping. Just getting to see all the different aliens and getting some sightseeing in was fine with him. Not to mention he got to spend some genuine alone time with Zim.

Zim didn't mind that at all. He was grateful for the help he was getting from Dib. The sooner they stocked up on supplies the sooner they could begin to have some fun. Just because they were on the run from the Irken Empire didn't mean they couldn't have at least a little fun. They were, after all, on one of the biggest vacation spots in the known universe.

It didn't take long at all to finish gathering supplies. After making a quick stop back at the ships to drop off a few things, they were on their way once more to look around. Zim already had a few plans in store for the boy and himself.

Dib was happy to do anything that involved Zim. Despite being known for being a shopping hot spot, that didn't mean the planet didn't have more to offer. Near the outer edge of the shopping area was what looked to be a mix between a carnival and amusement park. It had everything from rides to snacks to photo booths. Dib stared at it in awe. "Wow. I never thought we'd come across any planets so similar to Earth."

Zim scoffed a bit. "Pft! This is just a big tourist trap. The whole planet is. And trust me, Dib. All tourist traps in the known universe look the same. Most other planets won't be like this. Well, shall we?" he offered an arm to Dib, who happily accepted it and followed Zim in.

Zim easily dragged Dib to the first thing that caught his eye: a photo booth. Dib was a little reluctant at first about having his picture taken, but Zim wasn't about to let him get away. Dragging Dib in by his arm, Zim sat Dib down first so he could sit comfortably in Dib's lap. Dib allowed this as he wrapped arms around Zim from behind possessively and smiled. Next, Zim turned around in Dib's lap to straddle him a bit before turning his head back toward the camera and smirking. The next picture included him attacking Dib's mouth passionately as he ran a hand up Dib's shirt to pinch one of his nipples. Dib jumped and squeaked a little, blushing as Zim smiled against the kiss. The final picture had Zim just cuddling innocently up against Dib's body while putting unseen bunny ears on Dib from behind. Zim decided to keep that picture to himself as he giggled.

After getting a few copies of their pictures, Zim tugged Dib away from the photo booth to see if they could find a couple of rides that wouldn't make either of them sick to their stomachs. They weren't as lucky seeing as how most of them were roller coasters with lots of drops, turns, and spins. Normally, Zim would have been fine with those kind of rides, but lately the smeet had made him experience all sorts of motion sickness, even in his own ship. At most, they found at least two rides that were fairly slow and had few turns in them.

After exiting the drop off area of the second ride, they decided to check out a few laser shows. Time was passing much quicker than Dib expected it to. 12 hours seemed like a long day to him. "Hey, Zim? If it gets dark in 12 hours, then why are we staying 18 hours? Isn't it kind of weird to be walking around in the dark for six hours?" Dib asked as they continued walking through the park.

Zim turned and continued walking backwards so he could look at Dib as he answered. "Ah. Good question, Dib-stink. You see, since this planet has two suns, daytime lasts longer and nighttime is much shorter. There are 20 hours in a day and 4 hours at night. Unlike you humans, most species don't require sleep. So the place will be just as active during the night as it is during the day. Since we came in the middle of the day, we won't be leaving until about two hours after the first sun is up. That way you can see what the planet is like at night. It's quite different. I know it's a bit of a long day for you humans, but it will be worth it to stay awake. You can sleep after we return to the ship."

Dib nodded his head at that answer. "I see. Well I guess it will be worth it in the end. At least this means we'll have more time to spend together alone."

Zim nodded his head. "Good." he said as he went to take a seat on a bench. "Now, why don't you make yourself useful and get us some snacks?" he pointed to a few carts selling snack foods.

Dib pouted a bit at that. "Why don't you just come with me to get food?"

Zim smirked over at Dib. "No, thanks. Zim is fine right where he is. Besides, my feet hurt." he whined.

Dib just sighed. "Fine. What do you want?"

Zim seemed to think about that a moment. "How about some popcorn? Oh, and nachos too. And maybe a giant pretzel to go with it!" he said with a big smile.

"Geeze, that seems like a lot of food for somebody who couldn't even down a glass of orange juice this morning." Dib said in an unimpressed voice.

"Hey!" Zim said in a less amused tone. "It's not my fault! It's this damned smeet's! If it's not making me sick then it's making me hungry!" he pouted a bit at Dib.

"Fine! Fine! I'm sorry. I'll get you your food." Dib said raising his hands to show he meant no offense by what he said.

Good!" Zim said turning his head and crossing his arms across his chest, still a little pouty.

Dib returned a few minutes later carrying Zim's food and a little something for himself. Zim instantly grabbed his food from the boy and began stuffing his face. Dib just took a seat next to Zim and began eating his own food in silence.

After Dib finished up the nachos he'd bought for himself, he finally spoke up as Zim was finishing up his own food. "Hey, Zim. We've still got a few hours before we're supposed to meet up with Gaz and dad. After a few games here, what do you want to do?"

Zim just gave a small shrug. "I don't know. Look around, I guess."

Dib just looked down at the empty container his nachos had been in, scooping a finger through some left over cheese before bringing it to his mouth to taste. "Well, I've got an idea of what we could do, but you won't like it."

Zim finished the last of his food and sighed. "What is it?"

Dib seemed to hesitate a moment before answering. "Well...I was thinking about what Gir said earlier today before running off. Now that I think of it, I realize I didn't really pack anything we'll need for the baby after it gets here, like clothes or bottles or anything really. I thought maybe we could do some clothes shopping for the baby while we're here."

Zim sighed again. The Dib was right. Clothes shopping for the baby was one of the last things he wanted to do, but he had to admit Dib had a point. They had to at least get some supplies they'd be needing for the smeet. So without arguing, he simply agreed with the boy this time around. "Alright, Dib-beast. We can do that if you'd like, but first, let's check out some games." he smiled and pointed toward the game area.

Dib looked up at Zim instantly, a little surprised Zim had agreed so easily without a fight. "Really?! You're serious?! You're not going to complain or fight with me about it?! That's great, Zim! Thank you so much!" Dib hopped up from where he was sitting to hug Zim tightly.

Zim struggled a bit to try and get the boy off him. "Yes, yes. Zim is amazing. Now, let go. Zim can't breath with you clinging to him like this."

Dib obeyed, blushing and bringing a hand up to rub the back of his head. "Heh. Sorry. Guess I got a little over excited." he flashed the Irken a smile.

Zim took in a gulp of air before starting to make his way toward the games. "Just come on already."

Dib quickly followed after Zim, keeping close so he wouldn't get lost in the crowds of other aliens. Zim finally stopped in front of a booth with three targets in it. The point of the game was to hit all three with a laser gun to win a prize. It seemed simple enough. Putting some money down on the table, the bored looking alien behind the booth handed Zim a gun. "You have three chances to hit the targets. Good luck." he said with little enthusiasm.

Zim examined the gun a moment before deciding this would be far too easy for him. Taking aim, Zim fired his first shot just to have it swerve to the left at the last second, missing completely. "WHAT?! THAT WAS A PERFECT SHOT! HOW COULD IT MISS?!" he screeched.

"Oh. So close. But not close enough. You have two more tries." the alien said lazily.

Zim growled as he took aim again. The next shot ended the same as the last, missing by just a few centimeters. Zim's jaw just about hit the ground.

"You're down to your last try, sir. I suggest you don't miss." the alien said in a dull, uncaring voice.

A fire burned in Zim's eyes as he took his final shot without aiming, not caring where it hit. Once again it missed the target, not that Zim expected it to hit.

"I'm sorry, sir, but that was your last try. Next." he called as he could see a line forming behind Zim.

But Zim wouldn't be moved. "This gun is rigged! I want my monies back!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't give refunds. Now please move to the side or I'll be forced to call security. Other customers are waiting." the alien said, a little annoyed at the fact Zim wouldn't move.

No one saw it coming but in a flash Zim had hurled out three of his spider legs and shot lasers at the targets, completely destroying them. The alien behind the booth had fallen back. completely terrified now as Zim loomed over him. "See that?" he pointed to the remains. "That's going to be your head in a second if you don't give me back my monies."

Voice shaking in fear, the alien did his best to respond. "S...sure! H...Here's your monies back! Just please don't hurt me!" he begged as he handed over Zim's money.

Zim pulled back his spider legs after receiving his money back and looking around. "You know, I DID hit all three targets." he gave the alien an expectant look.

The alien scooted back more to huddle in on himself in one of the back corners of the booth. "T...Take whatever you want! Just spare me!"

Zim smiled, pleased with that answer. Taking a giant stuffed animal that looked like a space bunny and a pair of fake antennas that bounced when you walked, he led Dib away, perfectly happy now. Hugging the stuffed animal tightly once, he turned back to place the face antennae on Dib. "There! Now I won't be so embarrassed to be seen walking around with you." he teased the human, who pouted horribly at the other as they left the amusement park.

After a quick stop at the ships to drop off Zim's prize, the couple were on their way back into the shopping area to locate anywhere that looked like it sold clothes. As they strolled through the crowds at a slow pace, Dib took the opportunity to reach down between them and link his fingers in Zim's. Zim's antennae perked slightly at the small gesture before a small smile came to his face. He knew this was Dib's way of showing affection despite everything that had happened between them. Despite how much Zim loved every second of it, it still felt weird. It seemed that lately Zim had been the only one trying to keep their relationship going through kissing. The Dib hadn't kissed him once in the time they had been traveling through space. He barely even returned the ones Zim tried to place on him. Perhaps it felt weird for the boy knowing Zim couldn't love him. All Zim could do was embrace what affections he did receive from the boy and return as much as he could even if it wasn't exactly what he wanted. So in return for the way Dib had taken his hand, he pulled the boy closer as they walked, swinging their hands slightly.

Dib smiled more at the way Zim pulled him closer. Tilting his head slightly against Zim's, he relaxed. This was nice. It wasn't that he didn't want to kiss Zim. On the contrary, he really did, but he also wanted to hear those three words before he could continue any farther. He didn't want to hurt whenever he kissed Zim. He wanted it to feel real. Caring wasn't enough. He wanted genuine love.

Without even realizing it, Zim wrapped his antennae around the fake ones on Dib's head. Although it was obvious they were fake, linking antennae wasn't something one normally did in public, especially for Irkens. It was the equivalent of having sex. But Zim seemed so lost in his thoughts he didn't even notice some of the looks they were given by some of the other shoppers. Being completely oblivious to this fact, Dib didn't seem to notice either. But this act meant more to Zim than Dib would ever know.

They hadn't had sex in over a month and that fact made them both a bit edgy at times. They shared a bed, but that's as far as things went between them. But they were doing better every day still, their relationship strengthening with every day they came closer to becoming parents. It was the only part of their relationship that felt real. In a moment of what Dib felt was genuine love, they had created something beautiful that would be the bond they'd share forever.

After about another half hour of searching, they came across a store that looked promising in providing them with what they needed. Pulling Dib out of the crowds of staring eyes, they entered a small building that was off to the side. A small bell sounded as they entered, making Zim jump slightly. The place was well air conditioned compared to the hot air outside. It was a nice relief for Dib, but Zim shivered as he pulled away from Dib to put his sunglasses back on. The store was more designed to sell uniforms and different types of space suits for those going on deep space expeditions. They'd have to ask whoever ran the store where they kept the children's clothes, if they even carried any. The very thought had Zim shrinking back behind Dib as if to hide.

Noticing Zim's odd behavior, Dib turned to give him a slightly concerned look. "What is it? Something wrong?"

Zim looked around cautiously before answering. "Maybe this was a bad idea. Let's go before anyone sees us." he tried to tug Dib back outside but the human stayed rooted to his spot.

"What?!" he said incredulously as he stared back at the Irken in shock. "But we just got here and you promised you would do this with me! Besides, we agreed that we needed to get clothes for the baby. What better time than now?"

Zim whined when he couldn't move the boy from his spot. "But Diiiiib...Can't we just get your sister to do it? Or even better, let's get Gir to do it!"

Dib couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What makes you think Gaz would do us any favors? And would you honestly trust Gir running such an errand? He'd probably eat them or something!" Zim's silence was enough to tell him he was right. Sighing gently, he took up both of Zim's hands again so he could kiss the knuckles tenderly. "Now, come on and tell me what's really wrong." he said again as he ran his thumbs over the areas he had just kissed.

Zim was a little surprised by Dib's actions. Peeling his eyes away from his hands, which Dib continued to hold, he brought them up to meet the taller human's amber eyes. After a bit of hesitation on his part, Zim finally spoke. "Doesn't this seem a little suspicious? I mean, a pregnant Irken and human walking into a store looking for baby clothes. Not to mention, two MALES, looking for baby clothes. Just because I said we didn't need disguises doesn't mean there aren't people on the lookout for us. News travels fast in space. No doubt the Tallest have sent out a notice to look for us. Coming in here is just like saying, 'Yes, I am Zim. Turn me in to the Tallest.' It's not every day a pregnant, male Irken walks into a store looking for baby clothes. It just all seems a bit too obvious to me." he said, his eyes pleading with the boy to leave.

For just a moment, Dib saw something in those pleading eyes, saying what the Irken wouldn't admit, couldn't admit out loud for fear of causing harm to the other. But it was there. The same look he had received from the Irken so many months ago. And in that instant, Dib felt fine doing what he was about to do.

Bringing a hand up to Zim's chin, he tilted Zim's head up enough to press his own lips to the Irken's, gently but passionately. There was no hurt. No emptiness. It felt real.

Zim was thrown completely off guard by the kiss, the first real kiss Dib had given him in a long time. Zim recovered quickly, putting everything he could into the kiss despite how short lived it was. He wasn't sure when the next time Dib would kiss him would be, so he wanted to make this one count. He kissed back almost desperately, as though it were the last one they would ever share. Unfortunately, it wasn't as long as Zim would have liked.

Dib pulled away far too quickly, keeping one hand on Zim's cheek, his eyes never leaving the Irken's. "Zim, we have to do this. We'll be fine. We can just tell the store owner that the clothes are for my sister. Besides, it's not that noticeable. Unless they looked you over closely, I bet most people would never even guess you were pregnant."

Zim just let his eyes drop to the ground. "You're just saying that to make me feel better..."

Dib tightened his hold on the Irken's hand to try and grasp back the other's attention. "No, I'm serious, Zim. You look great. I can hardly even tell that you're pregnant." he smiled lightly at Zim.

Zim brought his eyes back up to meet Dib's again. "You really think so?"

Dib just laughed a bit. "Yes! I promise, Zim. It's hardly noticeable."

Zim finally smiled back, nodding his head reassuringly. "Alright, Dib. If you say so."

Before Dib could say anymore, there came the sound of somebody clearing their throat from behind them. They both turned quickly to come face to face with a medium sized Irken. Like many Irkens, he had red eyes, though they were a darker shade than Zim's. They were a burnt red with little shine to them and his antennae were slightly thicker than Zim's.

Zim instantly shrunk back behind Dib, using the sunglasses to hide the color of his own eyes. He'd hate to be recognized by another Irken. Dib was a little surprised. This was the first Irken he had seen all day other than Zim.

Finally, the Irken addressed them both in a friendly voice. "I'm sorry that took me so long. I was helping another customer. So what can I help you with?"

Zim remained silent so Dib finally spoke up. "We're looking for smeet clothes. Do you sell any here?"

The Irken seemed a bit surprised by the question at first as he examined the two closely. Smeet clothes? That was an odd request. What an odd couple. He didn't even think he had ever seen any species quite like Dib. And Irken's very rarely formed relationships with other species. Giving Zim another look up and down, something seemed to click in his mind as his eyes landed on Zim's stomach. "Oh! Well, we've got some near the back of the store." he pointed to a small section in the far back corner of the store. "Just call me if you need anything and bring anything you want to purchase to the front desk."

Dib thanked him once before dragging Zim with him to the area they had been pointed towards. It was a very small section with not many choices, but they'd just have to make do with what they could find. Dib was the first to start looking through what they had, Zim following suite after a few moments.

Dib looked over at Zim a moment as he shifted through a few things. "Go ahead and get whatever you want."

Zim paid Dib very little mind as he continued his search. "There isn't anything in here that I really do want. It's not a very good selection."

Zim was right. Dib didn't even know what the baby was going to look like. He had no idea what would look good and what wouldn't. Hell, they didn't even know if it was going to be a girl or a boy! Finally, Zim pulled out a pink shirt with the Irken symbol in purple on it.

"So, you think it's going to be a girl?" he said, pointing to the shirt Zim was holding.

Zim gave Dib a confused look as he raised an antennae curiously. "What? What makes you think that?"

Dib suddenly remembered that a lot of Irkens, male and female, seemed to wear pink. In fact, Zim was even wearing a pink striped shirt under his red uniform top right now. "Never mind. Just keep looking."

Zim continued to stare at Dib a few moments longer before turning to continue his search. After a couple minutes in complete silence, Zim finally spoke up again. "Sooo...What do you want it to be?"

Dib stopped his searching again to really think about that. "Well...I wouldn't mind having a little girl but then again, I always thought having a son would be nice too. I guess I'd be happy either way. How about you? What do you think it will be?"

Zim didn't have to think about that for very long. "Well, at the moment all I want is for it to be out of my body but if I had to guess the sex, I'd guess male"

Dib raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh yeah? What makes you so sure?"

Zim pulled out another shirt, looked it over, shook his head, then put it back to look through the rest. "Females are rare on Irk. Males make up the majority of the planet's population."

Dib nodded his head slightly. "I see. Well, I wish we knew for sure. It would make shopping for clothes a lot easier."

"Try looking for clothes that match either the color of your eyes or mine. Irken's usually wear clothes that match their eyes in some way. Gender doesn't really play a big role in what colors they wear. And I'll bet you a million monies that it will either have your eyes, mine, or something in between." Zim pulled out another top, this time red with a black spiral design in the middle. Setting it down with the other shirt he had found, he moved onto a section that mainly made up pajamas.

As crazy as it sounded to Dib, it actually made sense in a weird way. Why he had never noticed that fact before was beyond him. Taking Zim's advice, he soon came across two shirts he thought looked good. One was a light greenish color with a light purple outline of a shooting star on it. It was also really soft and fuzzy. The other one was similar. It was a very dark shade of blue with a big yellow star in the middle. The material was silkier and even came with a pair of matching blue pants.

Adding those to the growing pile of clothes, he moved over to look through the pajamas with Zim. Zim had already decided on a pair of footy pajamas that were the same shade of green Dib had found in that one shirt, but he wanted to get a couple more before they left. Dib quickly found a pair that matched his own eyes. They were a dark orange color with yellow trimmings. Zim picked out one last pair of pajamas that included a black top and pants with silver lining the edges and a cluster of stars surrounding one central star in the middle.

Satisfied with what they had found, they carried the pile of clothes up to the front desk. The Irken smiled and started to look over the things they had brought him to ring up. "Glad to see you found what you were looking for."

Dib nodded and smiled politely. "Thanks. They're really for my sister. She'll be so happy to see we actually found some smeet clothes for her."

"I bet." he said as he calculated the price and put everything into a bag for them.

Dib paid quickly and they were on their way once more. The Irken behind the desk watched as they disappeared into the crowd of active shoppers before smirking to himself and pulling out a small communicator. "Put me through to the Tallest."

ONE MONTH EARLIER-MASSIVE

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY GOT AWAY?! YOU IDIOTIC FOOLS!" Red raged as the frightened crew members of the Massive cowered in fear. "We gave you one simple task and that was to make sure Zim didn't leave the planet, but you couldn't even manage that! How did we end up with such a useless crew?!" Purple just sat back watching in amusement as he snacked on some donuts a service drone had brought him.

"We're sorry, sirs, but he was using some large Vortian ship with a highly modified propulsion system." the leader of the group tried to beg for forgiveness. "Please, my Tallest. We'll do better next time. We promise."

Tallest Red didn't seem at all convinced as he glared down upon them in the most intimidating way he could. Purple just let out an amused sound as he finished off the last of his donuts before rising to his feet so he could make his way over to Red. "Of course they'll do better next time..." he started as he slipped long, lengthy arms around Red from behind. "...because if they don't, we have every right to kill them." he purred as he licked up one of Red's antennae.

Red's antennae twitched slightly before relaxing at the feeling of Purple's mouth on the sensitive appendage, his eyes also slipping halfway closed as he hummed a gentle moan in the back of his throat. "Yes, I suppose you're right..." he said in a much calmer voice now, though the subject at hand had the crew members still cowering in fear.

"Besides" Purple reminded him. "If we kill them now, then there wouldn't be anyone left to bring me my snacks."

All Red could do at this point was heave out a sigh. "Fine. I'll give them one more chance for you but if they fail again, we'll be getting a new crew." he said as he eyed them closely. "Now, I want a notification sent out to all other planets you can think of, informing the inhabitants that Zim is on the loose. Anybody that sees him but fails to report it to us immediately shall be killed, and there will be a reward of 10,000 monies to the first one who contacts us with his whereabouts. Understood?"

All the shorter Irkens onboard instantly saluted and hurried to do exactly what their leader had ordered before they go in even more trouble.

PRESENT TIME-FLEERIA

"It's true, my Tallest! He just waltzed into my store no more than ten minutes ago, bought some smeet clothes, and walked back out. He had some odd species of alien I had never seen before with him and he seemed really nervous about being here." the store owner said excitedly.

"And you're absolutely sure it was him and not someone else? You can say with 100 accuracy that Zim is on that planet?" Red said as he stared into the other Irken's eyes in all seriousness.

The store owner seemed to hesitate momentarily before finally nodding at the image of Tallest Red on his communicator. "Yes, my Tallest. I'm sure of it. But I can't say for sure how long he'll actually be on the planet."

"Hmmm... I see. We'll send somebody out there right away to check things out. If we do find and capture Zim near that area, we'll be sure to send you your reward." Red nodded toward him.

"Thank you, my Tallest. I-" the store clerk began before a bell rang in the background. "Excuse me a moment, my Tallest. A customer just walked in." he turned to face the front desk but saw nobody.

Leaning forward more over the side of the desk, he looked around in confusion. He was sure he had just heard someone walk in. When no one was in sight, he turned back to face the Tallest before hearing a child like, almost robotic voice. "Scuse me."

The store owner turned quickly to look around again. That's when he saw a hand raised in front of the desk, trying to get his attention. Leaning over once more, he looked down this time to see who the owner of the hand and voice was. Standing in front of the desk was what looked to be a small SIR unit covered in some sticky, purple goop. The Irken behind the counter just blinked at the odd looking SIR unit. Without warning, the little robot screeched out in a high pitched voice and waved. "HI!"

It had both the Irken and Tallest clapping hands over their antennae to block out his voice. After regaining his composure somewhat, the store Irken addressed him unsurely. "Ummm...Can I help you?"

"Do you sell baby clothes?!" the robot screeched again.

The Irken simply nodded his head. "Yeah. They're in the back." he pointed towards the very back of the store.

"YAY!" The android screamed before rocketing to the back of the store and grabbing what he could carry. In a matter of seconds, he was back at the front of the store, placing everything he had grabbed on the counter. "I'd like to buy these, please! Master's having a baby and I wanted to buy the baby a present!" he said, handing the Irken some money that he had grabbed out of his head. It also seemed to be covered in whatever the SIR unit had on himself.

Making a slightly disgusted face as he took the money from the small bot, the Irken began ringing things up, hoping to get the small SIR unit out of his store as soon as possible. While the store owner was busy looking through the things at the front desk, the small SIR unit took to looking around the store some more. It was during that time that something behind the store owner caught his eye. In a flash, he was rocketing up to the small communicator right behind the Irken and hovering close in front of it. Thrusting a finger in the Tallest's direction, he began screaming in an excited tone once more. "Hey, I know you! You's the really tall people that were gonna get me my taquitos! You gots my taquitos yet?!"

Tallest Red fell back in a bit of shock at having the SIR unit's head invading the screen suddenly. Purple caught Red before he hit the floor, the both of them looking back up at the little nuisance on screen. "Hey! Isn't that Zim's stoopid little robot thing?" Purple asked, pointing back at the small android.

Red nodded his head a bit. "Yeah, I think it is." he said, slowly getting back to his feet.

"That means Zim really is there." Purple said, an evil smile making its way onto his face. Red couldn't help but smile also. This just made things far too easy for them.

Before they could discuss the topic farther however, the store owner grabbed the SIR unit from behind and began struggling to pry the little robot off the screen, apologizing to his leaders all the while. "I'm terribly sorry for all of this, my Tallest. Please excuse me. I'll have him out of here in just moment." his voice went from panicked to strained as he continued tugging at the SIR unit's arms, just wanting to kick him out already along with his bags. Finally pulling the little robot free of the communicator and over to the front door, he did his best to gain control of the squirming SIR unit as he reached for the robot's things.

"No, wait a minute!" Purple called out before the Irken could even get the front door open.

The store owner turned back towards the communicator, seemingly confused. "My Tallest?" he asked in an unsure voice, still holding the hyper robot.

Red just continued to smile a big, toothy grin. "Don't throw him out quite yet. He could prove useful."

The Irken in the store just stood there blinking in even more confusion. "I don't follow."

"Well," Red began. "Zim's going to have to go searching for his stoopid, little robot eventually and when he does, we'll just make sure to have a trap set for him. We'll send a team out there right now to prepare. He won't get away this time. It shouldn't take him too long to realize he's missing the stoopid thing." he said, his eyes shifting back to the giggling SIR unit. "Hey, guess what, little guy. If you promise to stay in that store there, we'll send you all the taquitos you can eat. Now how does that sound?" Red said to Gir in the most convincing voice he could.

Gir's eyes just grew large in wonder. "Really?" he asked in a somewhat dreamy voice.

Red had to hold back the laughter he so wanted to let out as he answered. "Yeah. Really. But you have to stay where you are, okay?"

Gir instantly let out a loud squeal of joy. "Okie dokie!"

Red smiled even more at that answer. He loved when plans came together. With that, he cut the transmission.

Things were working out perfectly. With little to no difficulty, Zim and Dib had been able to successfully meet up with Gaz and Membrane for dinner just as they had planned. As Membrane rambled on to Dib about what he and Gaz had done during the day, Zim was more than happy to just cuddle up against Dib at the booth table they were seated at. As Dib listened intently to everything his father had to tell him, he let one hand stray away to Zim's antennae, rubbing one of the thin appendages gently as he let Zim relax against him.

The Irken let his heavy eyelids slip all the way closed as he just enjoyed the utter bliss he was in at the moment. Letting the gentlest of purrs permeate from his being, he twitched one antennae in a plea for touch. Never looking away from his father who sat across from him at the table, Dib was easily able to switch antennae, much to Zim's delight.

Membrane seemed fairly intrigued by Zim's reactions as he continued talking, his eyes never leaving the thin appendage between Dib's fingers. He had always found it fascinating what an effect touching them could have on Zim. The Irken always seemed so calm and relaxed whenever Dib touched them. He wished he could study them closer, but that prospect was highly unlikely at this point in time. So he just went on about his day, telling Dib about the mechanical devices he had been able to look at and buy, all the while hypnotized by the movements of Zim's antennas.

Finally pulling his eyes away to smile back at Dib, he finished up what he was saying. "And that's pretty much all we did. So tell me, Dib. How was your day? What did you do during that time?" he asked, all his attention suddenly focused on Dib.

Blinking a few times, Dib began telling Membrane about his and Zim's day after only a moment of silence. "Well, let's see. Not too much. We bought some supplies for the ship, went to a carnival type place, and did a bit of clothes shopping. That's about it." he said shrugging slightly.

The last thing Dib said, however, had raised Membrane's interest slightly. Raising an eyebrow curiously, he continued to question Dib. "Oh? Well did you find anything good?"

"Yeah, a few things. They're for the baby actually, though a few may be a bit big at first." he said, moving his hands away from Zim's antennae so he could bend over to grab the bags sitting underneath the table.

The sudden loss of touch had Zim letting out a whine as he squirmed more against Dib, his eyes finally opening up to see what had interrupted his soothing antennae massage. He pouted a bit more when he saw Dib showing Membrane the smeet clothes they had bought earlier. What was the deal with humans and baby clothes? Letting out a slightly aggravated breath, he leaned back low in his seat, crossing his arms across his chest as he pouted.

Noticing Zim's sudden bad mood, Dib leaned down slightly to whisper something into the other's antennae. "What's wrong? What did I do this time?"

Rather than answering, Zim simply turned his head to the side so he could glare at the wall in a child like fashion. Dib simply stared a moment before letting a smirk make its way onto his face. He knew exactly what Zim wanted. Bringing both his arms down under the table to wrap around Zim's waist, he pulled the Irken closer so he could dip his head low to nuzzle his neck gently. Zim's eye went wide before shooting Dib a hard glare, the boy's breath on his skin sending shivers through his body. Ignoring the fact that his father and sister were sitting right there, Dib continued teasing the skin on Zim's neck, smiling against it before lightly grazing his teeth over the sensitive skin there.

Zim's glare softened almost the second Dib began nibbling at his neck, his eyes closing in pleasure once more. He had to bite down on his bottom lip just to keep back the moans he wanted to let out in that moment. Needless to say he had already been pretty horny from Dib touching his antennae so much, but now Dib was making it all the worse. He had to hold himself back from pressing his arousal up against Dib's leg at that moment. Thankfully, a waiter came up to their table to take their orders before they could go too much farther. Zim was all around relieved. He wasn't sure how much longer he would have lasted. If they hadn't stopped right at that moment, he was sure he would have had Dib pinned against the table underneath him.

Turning his attention to the waiter standing in front of them, Zim began ordering food for all of them. He wasn't sure what foods would be human safe at this point so he stuck with ordering a variety of different Irken dishes as well as some snack foods just in case the Irken food didn't sit well with the humans. For drinks, he just told the waiter to bring them four Irken sodas. All he knew for sure was that he wasn't going to be eating human food tonight. He had been craving some genuine Irken food that wasn't snacks for the longest time. He figured whatever they didn't finish, they could just bring back with them as leftovers. No doubt Zim would eat it the next time he had a late night craving. Human food was okay, but after 5 years of having to live off nearly the same meals every day, he could hardly stand it anymore.

Fidgeting in his chair slightly as he waited for the minutes that seemed like hours to pass, he nearly squeed with joy when he saw their waiter returning with at least five different order of Irken food, followed by another waiter carrying the snacks to their table. Zim clapped his hands together happily and began digging into his food the second it was in front of him, all the while explaining what each dish was through mouthfuls of food. Deciding to at least try some of the food set in front of them, the humans added a few scoops of the alien food onto their plates along with some snacks.

Dib, still a little full from his nachos earlier, decided to play it safe and try the four most promising looking. Giving each a try, he found only one that didn't suite his taste. After a moment of no weird side effects, Gaz and Membrane concluded it was safe enough to eat. Membrane took to trying the three dishes Dib seemed to be alright with while Gaz just proceeded to try all of them, not particularly picky when it came to food. She was too busy concentrating on her new game at the moment to really care anyways.

After everybody had gotten their fill of food, they asked for something to carry the rest in so they could pack it into the ship for later consumption. Paying for their meals and getting their food back, they headed out into the crowded areas once more. Agreeing once again on a time to meet back at the ships, they went their separate ways, wandering off into the darkness that now surrounded them. Zim and Dib had agreed to drop off the food in the ship before beginning their own plans for the night, doing so quickly before the night was over. Zim estimated they had somewhere between 2 1/2 -3 hours left before the first sun came up and he wanted to make the most of it.

The crowds had thinned out considerably compared to how they had been earlier that day. Although still active, the majority of the shoppers had dispersed to find other things they could do with their time. Some had checked into hotels where they could enjoy the luxury of sleep while others were out partying in some of the buildings that remained opened to the public for the night. Although shopping still continued for some, a good portion of the booths selling different items had closed down for the remainder of the night.

The places left open for further exploration were brightly lit with all sorts of fluorescent lights that seemed to draw customers in like flies to a fly trap. At least, that's how Dib felt as Zim tugged him along in search of a fairly isolated place to sit back and relax. Heading in the opposite direction of most of the crowd, Zim lead Dib for nearly 45 minutes before finally coming to a stop in front of what could be considered the equivalent of an ice-cream parlor and cafe joined together in one building. Although a bit big to be either back on Earth, the place was fairly empty with only a few other customers enjoying the quiet atmosphere of the place.

Upon entering, one could easily see the inside was primarily a spacious single roomed lounge with possibly a small back room for employees only. The structure of the main room wasn't too fancy as it was designed more for comfort than anything else. With a few Vortian couches and tables spread apart from each other throughout most of the room, it was the perfect place for a group of friends to just come hang out and talk for a while without disturbing any of the other guests. Zim thought the place was fitting considering he had just wanted to get away from Dib's sister and father back at that restaurant to be alone with Dib.

Pulling Dib over to a couch sitting in one of the far corners of the room separated from everybody else present, Zim impatiently tugged Dib down on top of him, wanting the human more and more with each passing second. Nobody else seemed to pay them much mind as they continued on with their conversations in quiet, the only other sound in the room being some faint elevator type music close to the one Zim played in his own base's elevator.

Dib was less enthusiastic as he did his best to push himself away from the Irken underneath him. "Wait a second, Zim." he said, sitting up so he was straddling Zim now.

Zim instinctually let out a small whine as he tried to pull the human back down to run his hands up under Dib's shirt. "I caaan't. I feel like I'm gonna explode if I wait any longer."

Dib merely reached down gently to pull Zim's hands away, his eyes meeting Zim's desperate eyes. "Can't this at least wait until we get back to the ship?"

Such a response from Dib had Zim pulling him just that much closer to bury his face in the boy's hair. That was not the response he had wanted to hear from Dib. "No! I've waited long enough already. I need this NOW!" he mumbled against the mess of hair.

Dib pulled away to give the other an incredulous face as he lowered his voice to a whisper now. "But we can't just have sex in a public place!"

Zim just dismissed that reply with a wave of his hand. "Sure we can! We can do it behind the couch or something." he said in a matter of fact kind of way.

Dib couldn't believe what he was hearing as he sat back up all the way. "No way, Zim! There's no way in hell you're getting me to have sex with you in public."

Zim just continued to stare back up at the human, blinking his eyes a few times in the bit of silence that followed shortly after. "Then can we go back to the ships and do it?" he asked.

Dib gave Zim an awkward look that screamed 'You're kidding, right?' after the other had asked that question. "NO!" he finally said firmly as he pulled himself off of Zim to sit next to, rather than on top of, the Irken.

Zim let his head fall back against the couch as he let out a frustrated sound. "But I'm dying here!"

Dib ignored that as he crossed his arms, glaring away from Zim, every once in a while letting his gaze wander in Zim's direction momentarily before returning to its original location. "I think you'll live until we're back on the ship. For now, just sit back and relax. We only have a few more hours to wait before meeting back up with dad and Gaz to leave."

Zim huffed out an annoyed breath before finally sitting up himself to pout at Dib. "Fine! I'm getting some drinks." he mumbled that last part more to himself than Dib before getting up to walk across the room to a small stand that a young male Vortian was running.

He was passing out drinks and other little treats to some of the other customers. Dib watched as Zim made his way over to order something. The Vortian smiled as Zim held up two fingers while speaking before pointing a thumb back in Dib's direction then throwing his arms up in the air in defeat. Dib couldn't hear a thing Zim said but whatever he told the Vortian had him laughing before handing Zim the two drinks. Zim returned a few moments later after exchanging a few more words with the Vortian, carrying two steaming cups of some turquoise colored liquid topped with what looked like whipped cream. Dib eyed the thick substance lightly bubbling in the cup when Zim passed it to him.

"Here. Try it. If you don't like it, I'll drink the rest." he said, taking a seat next to Dib on the couch.

Dib looked it over skeptically as he tried to figure out whether it might be toxic to him. Zim had already downed a good portion of his, inhaling deeply before exhaling and fanning his tongue a bit. He had burned it from drinking just a little too fast. Blowing on his first to make sure he didn't suffer the same fate, Dib finally brought the cup to his lips to taste. He figured he might as give it a try since he had already survived four types of Irken food today. What would one drink hurt?

Sipping idly at the contents of the cup, he found the substance was actually really sweet. It reminded him a lot of hot chocolate only with a strong peppermint taste. That didn't last long however as it was soon followed by a somewhat bitter aftertaste. He didn't complain though as he leaned back more in his seat. "Mmmm...Hey, this is pretty good. A bit of a strong flavor but good." he said, smiling back at Zim.

The Irken offered him a toothy grin as he continued drinking his own beverage at a slightly slower pace this time. Not wanting to get a mouthful of the bitter aftertaste, Dib continued sipping his at a sluggish rate compared to Zim. After a few moments of shared silence between the two occupants, Zim got up once again to purchase another sweet drink for himself. "Just one more. Then I'll be good." he said to Dib before leaving to get what he wanted.

Dib just nodded as Zim left, a minute passing before he returned once more with his prize, happily climbing back onto the couch and curling up against Dib as he enjoyed his treat. He loved the warm, fuzzy feeling that traveled through his body before settling in the pit of his squeedly spooch. It made him just want to climb into a warm bed with lots of soft covers and fall asleep. But for the moment he guessed he'd just have to settle with cuddling up against Dib for warmth as he let his eyes slip closed to rest.

Sensing Zim's relaxed state, Dib shifted slightly to a more comfortable position, resting a cheek against the top of the Irken's head. "Tired?" he asked to see if the Irken was still awake or not.

Zim remained perfectly still, never opening either of his eyes as he responded. "No, I'm just resting my eyes." he said as he did his best to stifle the yawn he wanted to let out.

Dib didn't buy that for a second as he shifted more so Zim could rest more comfortably against him. "Ya know, if you want, you can go ahead and get some sleep. I don't mind. I'll wake you up a little before sunrise."

Zim was already losing consciousness as he hummed out a "Hmmm..." before finally succumbing to the darkness taking hold of him.

Dib smiled to himself lightly as Zim's breaths became slow and steady in his unconscious state. Setting both his and Zim's drinks aside so they wouldn't spill, Dib slipped his arms protectively around Zim to hold the alien tightly. Letting his eyes wander to each alien in the room, Dib felt his eyelids growing heavy as his gaze finally settled back on Zim. He could see the darkness settling at the edges of his eyes with each blink before his vision finally blurred as he was swept away by a dreamless sleep.

Blinking his eyes open slowly, Dib began to piece things back together in his mind. He was a bit disoriented at first but when he finally remembered where exactly they were, he sat up straighter with a jolt. How long had he been asleep for?! Quickly directing his gaze to one of the windows in the establishment, he sighed in a bit of relief when he saw it was still dark out. Looking around once more, he noticed that most of the other aliens from earlier had left. Only that Vortian passing out drinks and another group of about three conversing aliens remained. Otherwise the place was pretty empty.

Zim stirred slightly, still curled up asleep only with his head now resting in Dib's lap. deciding it would probably be best that they be on their way as well, Dib reached down to lightly shake the Irken in an attempt to wake him. "Zim...Zim...Wake up...It's almost morning."

Zim shifted some more in his sleep, his antennae twitching slightly. "Hmmm??" he sounded out before opening his eyes slowly. "What time is it?" he asked before sitting up with a yawn and rubbing one of his eyes.

Dib shrugged, getting to his feet as soon as Zim had moved away. "I don't know, but most of the aliens from earlier have left. I think we should go too. We can watch the sunrise and shop around a bit more before we leave if you want."

Zim nodded and stretched his arms from his place on the couch. "Whatever sounds good to you."

Dib gave a good stretch of his own, cracking his back slightly. Universe's most comfortable couch or not, it still wasn't the best place to fall asleep, especially when sitting up. "Well, for starters, getting up sounds like a pretty good idea to me."

Zim continued to sit there blinking his eyes to readjust to the lighting in the room. "Alright. Just let me..." his sentence trailed off as he shifted to his stomach on the couch so he could grab the drinks Dib had set aside, which just happened to be on the ground since they weren't near any tables. The no longer steaming drinks were slightly warm still but not as warm as Zim would have liked. Shrugging that off, he downed the rest of his then Dib's since it was still mostly full. "Alright, I'm good." he said as he got back to his feet just to sway a little bit before stumbling into Dib.

The human boy helped steady Zim as he buried his face back in Dib's shirt. "Are you alright, Zim?" Dib asked, his facial expression a little worried.

A little muffled by Dib's shirt, Zim gave his response. "Zim is just fine, Earth filth." he answered groggily.

Pulling Zim away from his shirt gently, Dib gave him a more serious stare. "Exactly what was in those drinks anyways?" he said, holding Zim upright so he could look Dib in the eyes.

Zim was slow to respond as he seemed to think about it, blinking in an almost confused fashion. "Mmmm...A few Vortian ingredients, maybe some Irken alcohol."

"WHAT?!" Dib exclaimed, shaking the Irken a bit. "How much Irken alcohol?!"

Zim's head lolled a bit as he was shook by Dib. No longer looking at Dib, he let his eyes stray to the side momentarily to think before answering. "About half the drink, maybe."

Dib stopped shaking Zim to just stare at him in a bit of shock. Then he spoke up again in an angry voice. "Damnit, Zim! Do you have any idea how bad that is for the baby?!" he yelled at the Irken, but Zim was fairly out of it as he leaned up against Dib for extra support. Letting out a defeated sigh, Dib began leading Zim towards the exit. "Come on. Let's get you back to the ships."

The walk back to the ships was long and tiresome. Half leading and half dragging a close to unconscious Zim through the crowds of aliens proved to be even more difficult than the last time Zim had gotten drunk. (See Idle HandsAKA Random ZADRness Chapter 10) Thankfully the sun had risen shortly after they had left, the golden rays illuminating the parking structure in the distance. It was the only way Dib would have been able to find his way back. He reached the building with about an hour and 15 minutes left to spare.

He contemplated whether he should just take Zim back to one of the ship to wait for his father and sister or continue to drag Zim around with him as he shopped in that general region. He was slightly curious as to whether he could find anything of interest to buy in any of the booths. It was a hard decision to make but he finally decided to just carry Zim around with his as he shopped. Pulling Zim onto his back piggy back style, Dib carried Zim around to different booths and shops.

Zim gave a small sound of protest at being carried like that, telling Dib he could walk on his own. "M'awake. I can walk." his voice was slurred a bit as he tried to climb off Dib's back. The second he dismounted however, he lost his balance and fell back on his ass. "Ouch." he said lazily as Dib helped him back to his feet.

"Face it, Zim. You're way too drunk to walk on your own right now." he said, pulling Zim into his arms. Wrapping one of Zim's arms around his neck and one of his own arms around Zim's waist, Dib helped steady Zim enough to walk through the crowds of shopper since he refused to be carried.

Looking through all the merchandise being sold in all the booths, Dib finally came across something he thought would be useful. It was a small watch with the names of several different planets on it. By setting the watch to one of the planets, the time for that specific planet would show up on the watch. Pulling out the last of the money Zim had given him for the day, Dib happily purchased it before heading back to the ships with a very grumpy Irken at his side.

With some of the effects of the alcohol wearing off, other side effects took their place. Gaining back a bit of his coordination, Zim was able to walk straighter though he continued to cling to Dib tightly, digging his claws into Dib's arm as he tried to block out the noise of the other shoppers. The vibrations reaching his sensitive antennae from the crowds of shoppers were giving him a terrible headache. Without the luxury of real sleep, he'd have to suffer through the pain until his PAK started administering painkillers to help deal with it. Leaning heavily against Dib while they waited for Gaz and Membrane, Zim tried to hide away from the rest of the outside world by pulling part of Dib's shirt over his head.

Fortunately Gaz and Membrane arrived about 15 minutes earlier than their planned departure time. Wanting nothing more than to just get away from the noisy planet, Zim urged the humans to hurry up to the ships. He desperately wanted to just climb back into bed and get some sleep until this headache left.

Dib was a little worried at first about Zim's flying abilities. "Zim, are you sure you're okay to fly right now?"

Zim couldn't help but let out an irritated sound at the question. "Yes! Yes! Zim in fine! Let's just go already!" he said quickly, practically pushing Dib into Tak's ship before jumping in his own.

By some miracle, the trip back to the main ship had gone smoothly. The second they had reached the docking bay, Zim set his ship down and scrambled out of the cockpit. Dib did the same, helping Zim back to bed. He knew they were all exhausted and in need of some real sleep. His need for sex long forgotten, Zim fell into a deep sleep almost the second he hit the sheets.

ONE WEEK LATER

Zim turned over in bed, his stomach growling hungrily at him. Turning more until he was facing the boy in bed with him, he began to shake Dib lightly with a hand. "Dib...Diiiiib...Zim is hungry. Go get me something to eat."

Dib scrunched up his face a bit and let out a small grunt as he tried to ignore the shaking. He was having a great dream and didn't want to wake up any time soon.

"Diiiiiiiib..." Zim whined as he shook the boy harder.

Turning away from Zim, Dib refused the wake up but gave a tired response. "Can't you get Gir to do it? I really don't want to get up right now."

Zim stopped shaking Dib and huffed out a breath. "Fine..." Sitting up better in bed, a mechanical leg with a communicator attached slid out of his PAK to call Gir. "Gir! Bring your master a snack!" But instead of the little robot's head showing up on the screen, all he got was static. "Gir?" he said again. But still he got now answer. Just static. "GIR!" he said more sternly and still nothing happening.

Pushing the bed sheets away to get up and head to the kitchen, he grumbled under his breath to himself. "Stoopid robot must have been screwing around with his communication's link again..."

Entering the kitchen and getting himself a bit of his leftover Irken food, he spoke up to his ship's computer system. "Computer! Locate Gir for me." he said, taking a bite of his food and opening a soda to take a drink.

A few moments passed in silence before that same bored voice from Zim's base said anything. "Gir's not on this ship."

Those words had Zim nearly choking on his soda as he sputtered and coughed. "WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S NOT ON THE SHIP?!"

"He never came back with you when you returned from Fleeria." the computer continued in a bored voice.

"THAT CAN'T BE!" Zim screeched in a loud voice before it hit him. Had he really been in such a hurry to leave that he had left Gir behind?! Eyes wide, he turned quickly to sprint to his control room. They had to turn around. They had to go back and get Gir!

Changing directions, the ship shook slightly as Zim braced himself for the sudden turn. Without any kind of warning, the sudden shift in direction had Dib falling out of bed and hitting one of the far walls in the room with a yelp. "What the hell?!" Were they going faster all of a sudden and in the opposite direction?! Pushing himself up to a sitting position and rubbing his head, he looked out the window to see that they were. What the hell was going on?!

Regaining his balance, Dib made his way to the door as soon as the ship had stopped shaking. Poking his head out the door to look around, he saw his father and sister making their way down the hallway. Gaz was wrapped in a towel, her hair dripping while Membrane looked more like he had just rolled out of bed himself.

Stepping out into the hallway to meet them, Membrane addressed Dib first. "Dib, what's going on?"

"Yeah! What the hell did your stoopid little boyfriend do this time?!" Gaz cut in before Dib could answer. "I was in the shower when all of a sudden the ship started shaking and I just knew it had to be one of you idiots." She said, glaring horribly at Dib.

Dib just shrugged at them. "I don't know what's going on, but we've turned around and are heading in the opposite direction now." he said before turning to walk away from them to find Zim.

Gaz and Membrane followed close behind him until they finally reached the control room. Zim was standing in there, directing the ship. Approaching him from behind, Dib was the first to speak up. "Zim, what's going on? Why are we turning around?"

Putting the ship on autopilot, Zim turned to face Dib, his features showing how worried he was. "We have to go back." he said before grabbing the front of Dib's shirt and shaking him roughly. "We forgot Gir!" he screamed now, his voice shaking slightly. He sounded more desperate than angry as his shaking slowed until he was just clinging to Dib for extra support.

Dib did his best to calm the other down as he brought his own hands up to clasp Zim's. "Calm down, Zim. Getting all worked up about it won't help anything. Everything will be fine. We'll just go back to the planet and look for him. It's not like he could have gone anywhere else without a ship." He tried to offer the other a smile for reassurance. It didn't help Zim much, however.

"But what if someone found him?! What if they took him with them?! I may never see Gir again!" he said in an even more panicked voice.

Dib simply pulled the Irken closer so he could stroke Zim's antennae in a soothing way. "Shhh...Don't start jumping to conclusions. I doubt anyone would want to take Gir. What difference will a week or two more of traveling make? We can go back, find Gir, and then get back on our way. It's not like there's a time limit as to how long it takes us to reach our destination."

"Actually," the computer cut in, startling the humans in the room. "Going back may not be the wisest decision. If the Irken Empire catches up with you that could cause problems for you. Are you sure you want to take that risk by returning to Fleeria?"

Zim was silent a moment as he thought about it before giving his answer. "Yes. I won't just leave him behind."

"Now wait just a minute, Zim." Membrane spoke up for the first time. "If it's really as dangerous as your computer claims it to be, perhaps the rest of us should have a say in whether we go back or not."

Zim had begun to walk away but stopped when he heard that last part. "A say? A SAY?! What part of 'I won't just leave him behind.' do you not understand, human?! You have no say! You should just consider yourself lucky you're even on this ship to begin with! I could have easily left you behind on Earth! As the captain of this ship, what I say goes and I say we're going back to Fleeria to get Gir whether you like it or not!" he jabbed a finger at Membrane as he spoke, the glare on his face never leaving.

Membrane couldn't help but narrow his eyes on Zim for the response. "Well, I'm asking as Dib and Gaz's father that we don't go back. I don't want you putting either of my children in harm's way. They've been through enough as it is."

Zim just continued to glare at the other for a long moment before just turning to storm out of the room in a huff, saying one last thing before leaving completely. "I'm not asking them to come down to the planet's surface with me, but we are going back and that's final." And with that said, he was gone.

Dib was about to chase after the retreating Irken, protesting that he wouldn't let Zim go down alone, when his father stopped him. "Dib, you're not to go down there with him."

Dib whipped around to face his father as he reached the door, shooting his father a small glare. Membrane gave him an equally stern look as Gaz snuck out of the room, knowing exactly what was about to unravel.

"No, Dib! I refuse to let you risk your life just to save some stoopid robot! I'm putting my foot down this time. I've been letting you get away with a lot of things lately, but not this time. There is absolutely no way I'm letting you go down there, do you understand me?!" Membrane paced back and forth in front of Dib who stood by the door with his arms crossed, glaring off to the side. Every word out of his father's mouth had him glaring just that much harder.

"I'm not just going down there for Gir's sake! I'm going down there to make sure Zim is safe! I won't just let him go down there alone!" Dib retorted as soon as his father had finished speaking.

Membrane stopped his pacing to look back at Dib before turning to face him better, his posture straightening more. "I'm sorry, Dib, but I'm just not willing to let him put you kids in anymore danger!"

"I'm not a kid anymore, dad!" Dib cut in before Membrane could continue any farther. "This whole thing is my fault anyways! You're always telling me we all need to take responsibility for our actions! Well, this is my responsibility. I have to protect Zim no matter what!" he said, turning to also face his father better.

Membrane had to take in a calming breath to keep from yelling too loud as he rubbed his temples. "Son, you're not responsible for Zim's protection! I won't lose you over his stoopid decision! I already lost your mother long ago! I never want to experience that pain ever again!"

Dib had just about reached the end of his rope. "You just don't get it. This whole thing is my responsibility. It's been my responsibility since day 1! I screwed up, I accidentally brought life into this world, and I'm going to see it through to the end! And if that means protecting Zim until the time of the birth, then I won't let anybody stand in my way of doing just that! Even you!" Dib said with finality before finally storming out of the room to return to his own room.

Upon arriving, he found Zim lying on his side in the bed, his arms crossed. Locking the door behind him and turning off the lights completely with the push of a button, Dib climbed in bed with Zim and wrapped protective arms around him. Zim was thankful for the silence that followed. He didn't want to talk, he didn't want to sleep. All he wanted was silence and to be near Dib in that moment.

Over the next several days, there was nothing but silence to occupy the fairly large ship. No one spoke or even really saw each other as the days passed lazily. Dib had spent three days locked up in their room, only getting up out of bed to get food and use the bathroom. He wasn't in any mood to do much else.

Zim was the only one to see him in those days, though he got up regularly to wander about the ship or check their status. He wanted to know the second they reached Fleeria. He even ordered his computer to inform him as soon as the planet was in sight. He didn't want to waste valuable time on the planet. All he wanted was to drop in, find Gir, and then get the hell out of there. Easier said than done. The planet was huge and crowded. Gir could be anywhere if he was even on the planet still.

The thought that somebody may have found and taken Gir never to be seen again made him sick to his stomach and restless. Not wanting to cross paths with Membrane, he spent his days locked up in the room with Dib and walked the hallways at night. He had never liked sitting still in one spot for too long. And he didn't know how to describe the silence. It was unfamiliar but welcome. He really had nothing more to say. Gir had always been there to fill the silence when conversation ceased to continue among the occupants onboard. Even when he was completely alone, he wasn't because Gir had always been there to make some kind of noise, even if it was just background noise. But now, without Gir, he felt empty. He felt as though a vital part of himself was missing.

Dib had noticed the change in behavior almost immediately, but he figured the best thing for Zim at the moment was to be left alone to think things through. It wasn't until about the fourth night of traveling that Dib finally decided to get up and check on Zim. The Irken had left already to wander around the ship aimlessly, so Dib figured it had to be fairly late, not to mention most of the lights onboard were off to prevent disturbing the others trying to sleep. It made the place seem slightly bigger than Dib recalled it to be in the light. It wasn't completely dark, however. A plus side to traveling through space was the fact that the stars never stopped shining. They allowed for just enough light to see by, even in the dark.

Slipping out the door to the room he shared with Zim, he began his search for said Irken to see how the other was holding up. His search didn't last long as he found the Irken just around the corner near their sleeping quarters. Down on the far end of the hallway stood Zim, staring endlessly out one of the windows in front of him. He seemed somewhat lost in thought yet aware of his surroundings at the same time as he watched the stars go by. His antennae twitched at uneven intervals as though testing the air around them for any changes. They seemed to perk slightly at the sound of his approaching footsteps before relaxing once more.

Zim didn't move to greet the human but just sighed contently when he felt comforting arms wrap around him from behind. Tucking his antennae back so he could rest his head comfortably underneath Dib's chin, he leaned back slightly into the boy's warm embrace. "Hey." he said casually.

"Hey." Dib responded back gently.

Zim smiled and let his eyes slip closed. "I thought you were asleep." he said in a slightly amused tone.

Dib smiled also, rubbing a cheek up against the top of Zim's head before just moving down to nuzzle his entire face into the back of Zim's neck. Letting his own eyes slip closed, he spoke against soft skin. "Couldn't sleep. I wanted to come check up on you. Hope you don't mind."

Zim couldn't help but smile even more at all the small nuzzles Dib was giving him. Cracking his eyes open slightly, he responded calmly to what the boy had just said. "It's fine. I'm actually happy for the bit company. I never realized how lonely things could get around here without Gir. I always thought he was just another thing in my life that was a pain in my ass, but now that he's gone, I don't feel like me anymore. I don't know how, but his stoopidness is probably the one thing that's kept me sane all these years. Probably because he's one of the two things the Irken Empire hasn't taken away from me yet." he said, his smile faltering slightly as he talked about Gir. As much as he hated to admit it, he missed Gir a lot.

Dib had to pull away at that last part, raising a brow curiously at the other's words. "Well, what's the other thing?" he asked, his voice holding a hint of good humor in it.

Zim remained silent a moment before shifting in Dib's arms enough to face him. His smile had disappeared as he looked up into Dib's eyes almost pleadingly. "You." he said in the quietest of whispers.

Dib's eyes widened in a bit of surprise as he couldn't look away from those crimson orbs that seemed to shine with a bit of hurt, even in the dark hallway. His own honey-colored eyes softened just as quickly, never leaving Zim's gaze. "Zim..." The name left his lips in a quiet breath before pressing a gentle but passionate kiss to the alien's mouth.

Zim's antennae perked straight up before falling back once more as his eyes slipped closed again to enjoy the kiss. Dib slipped his tongue in, sensing how much Zim needed this by how desperately he seemed to be kissing back. Dib needed this too. As their tongues danced together, he turned more to face Zim better before pulling him as close to himself as physically possible.

After a minute or two of catching up, they finally pulled away, Zim panting out as Dib trailed his mouth down to Zim's neck, licking and kissing it affectionately before pulling away just enough to speak, his warm breath caressing the skin there. "I promise, we'll get him back even if we have to search the entire universe to find him." he promised before returning to the alien's mouth.

He now had the Irken pinned to the wall as he pressed himself against Zim. Zim ran his nails lightly down Dib's side just to grip the hem of his shirt before running them under it to feel warm skin against his hands. Zim hummed a light, "Mmmmmm..." as they kissed before pulling back just enough to say one thing. "Bedroom?" he asked, out of breath.

Dib just nodded in agreement quickly, also out of breath. "Bedroom." he managed to breath out before pulling Zim along with him back towards their room.

By the time they had reached their room, Zim already had Dib pressed up against the door while Dib reached back, searching with his hand for the switch that would open the door to let them in. Finding it quickly, he managed to open the door with a "whoosh" sound. The sudden absence of the door behind him for support had Dib stumbling back onto the floor with Zim in his arms. They remained kissing there a few moments before Zim finally pushed away to get back to his feet.

SMUT SCENE STARTS HERE! NO LIKEY, NO LOOKEY! ENJOY!

He didn't want to waste anymore time. He needed this now while Dib was willing. Dib followed suite shortly after, coming to stand right behind Zim as the Irken struggled to pull his shirt off. Dib easily reached around to the front of Zim's shirt to pull it up over his head before tossing it to the side somewhere.

Dib didn't want to waste any time either. He was already busy trailing kisses all the way down Zim's back, dropping to his knees as he kissed lower and lower on his back until he had reached the rim of Zim's pants. The feeling of Dib's lips brushing ever so lightly along his spine had Zim shivering slightly with the attention, a low moan escaping his mouth. Dib stopped his ministrations as soon as he reached the rim of black pants, blocking him off from the rest of Zim's skin, and heard the moan Zim issued.

With his arms wrapped loosely around Zim's waist still, Dib pulled his lips away just enough for the other to hear his mumbled question. "Are you sure you're okay to do this? I don't want to hurt you or the baby." he couldn't help but be at least a little concerned.

Zim was already too lost in the sensations coursing through his body. His eyes were closed in ecstasy as he waited for Dib to continue farther. "I'm fine. Just don't stop." he said breathily as he pressed more against Dib.

Dib nodded against Zim's back in agreement, holding Zim close with one arm while sliding his other hand into the alien's pants to lightly finger Zim's slowly stiffening member. "Alright, but tell me if it hurts even a little bit."

Zim's head fell back as another moan escaped him. "Will...do..." he finally said between pants as Dib continued, stroking him a bit harder. "Oh, Irk, Dib!" his voice was a bit strained as he arched his back into the touch. It had been so long since they had last been intimate that every touch was like an electrifying jolt of pleasure, every kiss so warm and inviting yet still able to send shivers up and down his spine, causing him to shudder noticeably in the boy's arms.

Dib tightened his hold a bit more on Zim, holding him still as he spoke. "Shhh...Just relax." he tried to calm the Irken some. They hadn't even really started yet and already Zim seemed to be close to a release. He could tell just by the feel of Zim's now rock hard member, how fast it had come on, and even the way he thrust into his hand. Dib didn't want that though. He didn't want it to end so quickly.

Before the moment could be so easily ruined, Dib pulled his hand back, making Zim utter a rather pathetic sound at the loss of the warm hand massaging his member. "Why did you stop?" he questioned the boy, his voice shaking slightly as he caught his breath.

"You were about to come. You need to relax more or else it will be over before you can enjoy it." he said, kissing Zim's back one last time before getting back to his feet, smiling lightly at the Irken.

Zim did his best to do as Dib had told him, taking in a rather large, shaky breath before exhaling heavily but steadily, just trying to relax. The Dib was right, and he didn't want to ruin it for either of them. He wanted this moment to last as long as physically possible. As soon as his body had finally stopped being so tense, he found it much easier to just melt into Dib's touch as he ran nimble fingers up and down his sides in a soothing manner.

Dib sighed out gently as he felt Zim's muscles finally relax under his gentle touch. Moving his hands back down Zim's body, he began undoing Zim's black uniform pants, letting them drop to the ground by his feet as soon as he had loosened them. Zim easily stepped out of them, kicking his boots off in the process, all the while giving Dib a perfect view of his backside, with all its perfect curves despite his pregnancy. In fact, it wasn't even noticeable from the backside.

Dib just stood staring for a few long moments, admiring Zim's body in the star lit room. It wasn't until Zim spoke up that he broke out of his daze. "Dib? Are we going to continue, or are you going to keep my waiting?" Zim asked, turning slightly to look back at Dib, who continued to stare at the glowing skin a moment longer.

"What? Oh! Sorry!" Dib apologized, blushing slightly as he began tugging at his own clothes to get them off.

Once free of the constraining fabric, Dib followed Zim to the bed where Zim sprawled out on his stomach, pillowing his head in his arms as he sank into the bed covers that threatened to swallow him whole. "Go ahead, human. Do whatever you want. I won't stop you." he said, waiting for Dib to make his next move.

Dib was already fully erect as he watched Zim's movements, wanting nothing more than to bury himself into that warm, tight body until he climaxed, but he was still worried about possibly hurting Zim or the baby from going too hard. Climbing onto the bed behind Zim, he lifted Zim's hips just enough to press up against his stiff member, hesitating a moment longer. Zim braced himself for what he knew was sure to come, grabbing handfuls of the blanket underneath him in anticipation. Finally leaning over him one last time to kiss the back of Zim's neck, he whispered gently in Zim's antennae. "Remember to stop me if it hurts." With that, he reached down to realign his shaft with Zim's entrance, pushing in slowly to prevent as much discomfort as possible.

Zim gasped sharply at the intrusion, bucking his hips slightly and moaning. It had been so long and all he could feel at that moment was Dib and nothing more. He wanted more. In a desperate move, he tried to force his hips back to take all of Dib in at one time. "Fuck, Dib! Can you go any slower?!" he grunted out as Dib held his hips steady.

Finally giving in, Dib decided to just let Zim have his way with the situation. Without any real warning, Dib slammed the rest of himself into Zim in one swift movement, throwing back his head and howling in pleasure as he held Zim there. In an explosion of complete ecstasy, Zim also cried out in pleasure, rocking his hips slightly as Dib buried himself to the hilt. It felt absolutely amazing as something seemed to explode in Zim's eyes like fireworks, clouding his vision momentarily as all his other senses were overcome by pure feeling.

Nothing else seemed to want to register in his mind for a few long moments, not even the feel of Dib's skilled fingers brushing over his sensitive member. It wasn't until he felt the warmth of Dib's hand engulf it as he grasped the length of it that Zim jerked forward in Dib's grip, calming some as the human seemed to pick up a steady pace, simultaneously pumping Zim's shaft as he thrust rhythmically into Zim's body, groaning with the friction that came with it. It was unbelievably tight yet fluid as his movements came faster and heavier with the bit of body weight he threw into each thrust. All Zim could do was grip the bed sheets tighter as he tried to synchronize his own movements better with Dib's, thrusting every time Dib buried himself deeper inside of Zim.

As Dib felt himself coming closer to his own release, he began stroking Zim more firmly and rapidly. He knew Zim's release would start a chain reaction that would inevitably set him off perfectly. Zim knew this already as he felt Dib's pace quicken. Teetering back and forth on the brink of his release, Zim called out in a demanding voice. "Harder, Dib! I'm almost there!"

With one last burst of energy, Dib threw as much of his body weight as he could without hurting Zim into a few final thrusts until the Irken threw back his head and arched his back perfectly against Dib's body. With a loud moan, he shot his seed all over Dib's hand, some of it dripping from his fingertips onto the bed underneath. The way Zim spasmed before contracting around Dib's member had him crying out in pleasure also. "Zim, I'm...I'm gonna...AH!" Dib's body tensed as he came long and hard, holding Zim's hips in place until he finished releasing his own seed into Zim's body.

Heaving out a heavy breath, Dib's body slowly began to relax as the last remaining waves of pleasure left him, panting heavily against Zim until he was finally able to pull out of the other's body. With what little left over energy he could muster, Zim rolled over onto his back beneath Dib. Hands shaking from a lack of energy, Zim reached up the best he could to tangle his fingers in the boy's dark strands of hair. Dib easily sank down on top of Zim, receiving a slow and passionate kiss on the lips when he was close enough to Zim. Keeping Dib there, Zim loosened his grip on the boy's hair, letting his hands slip down to hold Dib's face a few moments before falling down to his shoulders and finally running down his arms.

Locking the fingers of one hand with Dib's and taking hold of the boy's opposite wrist, Zim brought them up between their intertwined bodies to kiss each finger on Dib's hand, taking extra time to lick his cum off each finger of Dib's other hand. The taste was unusually enjoyable, the contrasting tastes of his cum, so sweet, and Dib's skin, somewhat salty, creating a rather sensual mix. Dib simply watched in complete silence as Zim's serpentine tongue darted between each finger.

END OF SMUT SCENE. HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED.

Resting his cheek comfortably against Zim's chest and sighing contently, he kept his concentrated gaze focused on Zim's slithering tongue, blinking lazily in exhaust. He couldn't move, but that was fine. Everything about this moment felt perfect between them. He wanted to savor it for as long as he possibly could. So he just laid there enjoying the comfort of the other's presence.

Dib's smile grew as he laid there in the darkness with Zim. A few hours had passed since they had made love, and now they were just sharing each other's warmth. Dib had long since shifted down Zim's body and now rested his head against the growing bulge in Zim's stomach. Holding one hand firmly against the mass, he felt all along the surface, trying to discern exactly where the head was. It was hard to tell at this point in the pregnancy, but he definitely felt movement as his fingers probed the area. Every kick had him letting out a happy sound, kissing the spot affectionately as he nuzzled Zim's swelling stomach.

Zim was surprisingly calm as Dib did all this, just enjoying every second he could with Dib. He didn't mind all the poking and prodding Dib was doing to his stomach too much, though he'd never get used to all the kicking. The best he could do was simply try to ignore it with other things such as playing with Dib's scythe lock of hair like he was doing right now. However, that was easier said than done. Watching Dib coo and cuddle up to his stomach every time the smeet moved or kicked wasn't exactly helping him forget, though he found it interesting to watch Dib's reactions.

He had never seen anybody act so excitedly about having a smeet. He guessed it made some sense, seeing as how these humans kept and raised their young for so many years before finally letting them leave the house to be on their own and raise their own young. He couldn't know for sure though. Irkens weren't raised that way, so attachments never really formed between the young and their birth parents, if they were even born naturally. It made him wonder how he'd feel toward his smeet as soon as it was born. Would he grow attached to it like Dib, or would there always be an emotional distance because of his species? Even now, he didn't know how he felt about it. The situation still felt too much like a dream to him. But with each kick, the reality of it seemed to take hold of him again.

One particularly hard kick had him snapping out of his thoughts as he stroked a hand soothingly over the somewhat sore spot. Dib had let out another happy sound at that kick, which had Zim looking back down at him curiously as he raised an eyebrow. "Having fun?"

Dib had a wide smile on his face as he nodded against Zim's stomach. "Yeah. I am, actually."

Zim nodded back at him in acknowledgement as he ran his hand over the spot again. "Good. At least one of us is." he said in a somewhat amused tone.

Lifting his head to look up at Zim, he sent the Irken an apologetic smile. "Does it hurt?"

Zim just shrugged as he went back to playing with Dib's hair. "Sometimes."

Dib pressed his lips to Zim's stomach once more at that answer before pulling away to run his hands soothingly up and down the sides of Zim's stomach. "How about now? Does it hurt right now?"

Zim smiled at Dib's attempts to make him feel better, wincing when he felt another kick to his side. "A little bit, but I think I'll survive." he said somewhat jokingly.

Dib laughed as he sat up on his knees. "I'd better stop. I think it's kicking from all the movement outside" he said as he crawled back up to lay next to Zim, wrapping comforting arms tightly around him as soon as he had pulled the covers up more around them.

Letting out a tired yawn, he allowed his eyes to slip closed immediately. "Let's get some sleep. We'll reach Fleeria in a few more days, and if we want to find Gir, we'll need some rest." he said, allowing sleep to take hold of him.

Dib was right. Sleep would be the best thing for both of them right now. Besides, it was late...or early. A clock right above the door in their room read about 4:00 in the morning. Unable to keep his own eyes open, Zim slowly slipped into the comfort of another night's sleep.

THREE DAYS LATER

"Dib! Dib! Wake up already!" Zim shook the sleeping boy urgently.

Dib barely registered any of what Zim was saying as he blinked his eyes open tiredly. "Hmmm...What? What is it?" he asked through a yawn as he sat up to stretch. It felt far too early to be morning yet.

"We're here! We're finally back at Fleeria! Hurry up and get dressed already! I want to go down there and find Gir as soon as possible!" he said quickly in a hushed voice so as not to wake anybody else. He wanted to get it over with before Membrane woke up. Dib had already made it clear to him that he wasn't going to leave his side no matter what.

Dib rubbed at one of his eyes before placing his glasses back on his face to see that they were, indeed, back at Fleeria. The glowing red planet sat right outside their window, just as busy looking as the first time they arrived. Checking his new watch for the time, he found that it was about 10:00 in the morning down on Fleeria. Unfortunately, with a 4 hour difference from Earth, that meant it was about 6:00 in the morning Earth time. Dib hadn't quite adjusted to all the changing times in space yet. His internal alarm clock was still set for Earth time. Nonetheless, he still pushed himself up out of bed to don a fresh pair of clothes before following Zim to the ships.

Deciding they'd only need one for the trip down and back, they squeezed into Zim's ship, Zim sitting in Dib's lap as he piloted it down to the planet's surface, parking in the same parking structure they had used last time. Taking the same precautions as last time, they stepped out into the crowded atmosphere once again to begin their search. Zim already had a pretty good idea how to get a lock on Gir's location. He only prayed he was within reaching distance.

Pulling out a communicator from the back of his PAK, he tried calling Gir once again. The little SIR unit couldn't have gone too far from their original landing spot, right? They both held their breath as they waited to get some kind of response. After about a minute or two of waiting, they finally received a signal. A bit staticy from interference on the planet, but still a signal.

The screen in front of them was a little scrambled, but they could still make out enough of it as Gir's head came into view. Neither Dib or Zim had time to respond before the little android screeched out excitedly. "MASTER! BIG-HEAD BOY! I MISSED JOO!" he said as he happily hugged the screen.

Zim's antennae fell back at the robot's loud voice before shoving his own face in Gir's view. "GIR! WHERE ARE YOU?! WE'RE COMING TO GET YOU NOW!"

Gir sat back to stare at the screen confusedly. "I dunno...but I bought you's clothes for the baby! And my new friend is giving me lots of taquitos!" he said happily.

"What? What new friend? What are you talking about, Gir?!" Zim asked in a demanding voice. He was already getting annoyed by Gir's randomness.

"My new taquito friend! See!" he turned the screen toward the store owner that had sold them their smeet clothes.

The Irken on screen looked up from what he was doing as the screen coming out of Gir's head was shoved in his face, putting on the friendliest smile he could. "Oh, hello again. I didn't know this SIR unit belonged to you. He wandered in here a couple weeks ago completely lost, so I've just been keeping him until his owner came looking for him." he said casually as Gir sat back, eating some taquitos off a plate in front of him.

Zim was shocked as he stared back at the monitor coming out of his PAK, speechless. Dib was just as surprised but managed to speak up after a moment of stunned silence. "Hey, you're the guy from the clothes shop. Are you saying you just kept him this entire time?"

The store owner just shrugged lightly. "Yep. It wasn't that big of a deal. I figured his owner would have some way of getting a hold of him eventually, so I just let him stay here until that happened. And now that it has, I guess you can come and get him."

Dib just continued to blink in a bit of astonishment. "Wow. Well, thanks, I guess. We'll be right over."

Zim, who hadn't said a word since this conversation had started, turned his attention back towards Gir. "Gir! Stay there! Do not leave that shop! That's an order!" he pointed threateningly at Gir.

Gir instantly stood to salute Zim as his eyes flashed red before returning to normal. He then sat back down to just eat his taquitos and giggle to himself. Cutting the transmission, Zim and Dib began wading through the crowds of shoppers to find the store again.

Meanwhile, back at the store, the store owner pulled out what looked to be a walkie talkie device, smiling evilly as he spoke into it. "Alright, be ready. They're on their way."

While all this was happening down on Fleeria, other things were happening back on the ship with Membrane and Gaz. As Gaz stood waiting in front of Tak's ship, Membrane was running back and forth in front of her, gathering a few things, fuming. "I can't believe your brother would deliberately disobey me like this! Of all the things he's done so far, this is by far the worst! I specifically told him he wasn't to go down there!" he angrily paced back and forth as Gaz just rolled her eyes.

In all honesty, she really didn't give a shit what Dib did just so long as he kept her out of it. Normally, this situation wouldn't concern her in the least bit, but because Zim and Dib had only bothered to take one ship instead of both, she now had to get out of bed to fly Membrane down to look for them and for that, she would kick both their asses.

When Membrane was finally ready to leave, they both hopped into the ship to head toward Fleeria. Gaz and Membrane reached Fleeria in a matter of minutes, and deciding now was the best time to use those belts Zim had given them, Gaz pressed the button in the middle, which instantly began flashing red. Watching as the little red dot flashed continuously at her, she realized it was producing a holographic image with three other red dots on them. One was obviously coming from Membrane who stood right next to her. His belt had automatically activated itself and was also beeping and flashing at him. The other two were a little ways up the road not too far from them. They followed the two moving dots, determined to catch up with them.

Back with Dib and Zim, they had just found the store when Dib's own belt had gone off with a loud beeping noise as well as Zim's PAK, which instantly came to life with the same hologram only with two dots approaching them. Dib had been just about ready to open the door when his belt went off, making him jump with a startled yelp. "What the hell is that?!"

Zim cursed out loud as the hologram was produced from his PAK. "Shit! Either your father or sister just pressed the button in the middle of their belts, and it looks like their coming to get us." he said, pointing at the two approaching dots.

"Damn!" Dib swore out loud as well. "Dad's going to kill me! We'd better get in there and grab Gir before I get in even more trouble." he finally sighed out lowly. Zim simply nodded before following Dib inside, the bell ringing as they entered.

Upon entering, they found the place to be oddly empty. It almost looked deserted as they scanned the area for any life. "Hello? Anybody here?" Dib called out.

"Gir? Are you in here?" Zim also called out, looking around in confusion. Did they have the wrong shop? No. Zim was absolutely sure this was where they had bought the clothes at.

Before Zim could move to look around any further, he suddenly felt something press up against the back of his head. "Turn around and you die." came an unknown voice from behind him. Zim's body went completely tense as he stood still.

As Dib turned to see who had said that, another pair of arms quickly grabbed him from behind, cold and metal, wrapping tightly around his body as though with the intent to break his bones or suffocate him. With a pained noise escaping his mouth, Dib struggled to break free just to have more pressure applied to his constraints.

"The more you struggle, the more I squeeze." came another unknown voice, filled with sick amusement.

Zim's eyes were wide as he watched Dib try to break free. "Dib! Just do what they say!" he said in a somewhat panicked voice. He didn't want to see Dib get hurt.

Dib obeyed as the metal arms wrapped tighter around him, though he continued to yell in anger and frustration. "Damnit! Let us go, you sick bastards!"

"Or else you'll do what? You're in no position to be ordering us around, human." he said that last word with a bit of disgust showing in his voice.

Dib just growled lowly at their two captors, both Irken, one with dark, red eyes, the other with deep, purple eyes. They were both a bit taller than Zim, but only slightly. Their wardrobe consisted of matching Irken armor that covered just about everything except their eyes and antennae and a pair of protective goggles for their eyes, which they had sitting on their heads at the moment. They really only needed them for when they were outside in the harsh atmosphere.

Unable to think of a way out, all Dib could do was watch helplessly as the red eyed Irken holding the gun to Zim's head yanked his arms back behind his back before turning Zim around to push him out the door toward his hidden ship. Dib was led out right behind Zim, wracking his brain for any ideas that would help their current situation. When nothing came, he heard Zim growl lowly in the back of his throat, obviously coming up blank as well. "That fucking bastard! He lied to us! This was a trap all along! He was just using Gir to lure us out!"

The ship they were led to was a medium sized vessel, cloaked with several holographic projectors to look like several small booths surrounding the area.

As all this was going on, Membrane and Gaz were watching the scene from a safe distance. Membrane looked absolutely terrified for Dib as he watched them drag his son toward the opening of the ship to force him inside. Gaz looked ready to just tear one of their head off, her fists shaking in rage. It figure those idiots would get in some type of trouble.

When she saw that the coast was clear, and they were facing completely the opposite direction, she wasted no time in ducking in and out of the crowds of shoppers to sneak around them in search of a store that might sell weapons of some kind. Plenty of other tourists had stopped to watch the guards hauling Dib and Zim into their ship. She only hoped it would provide enough cover for her.

As she looked around frantically for anything that looked like it could be used as a weapon, she finally came across a booth selling some kind of stun guns. Without even bothering to pay for it, she grabbed one to take aim at the red eyed Irken, who seemed distracted. It would be just like playing one of her video games. Her only problem was all the shoppers walking by, getting in her way. She'd have to get closer to get a clean shot.

So, being as quiet as she possibly could, she pushed through the crowds to get a better shot, the entire scenario playing through in her mind as she approached closer. It would work. She just had to time it right. Taking aim once again, she waited for the perfect shot to present itself. It never did.

Before she had even noticed what had gone horribly wrong, a laser blast shot the gun right out of her hands before another metal arm shot out to bind her hands together and tug her forward. Struggling to pull her wrists back, she was forcefully lifted into the air by her wrists. Turning to face her, the red eyed Irken smirked at her pathetic attempt to take him down. "Did you really think I didn't notice all your sneaking around with that stun gun? HA! I've been trained to pick up certain vibrations with my antennae, and your movements were far from normal. You didn't have a chance." his cruel smile grew as he drew closer to Gaz.

Gaz was now beyond pissed as she dangled in front of him. Noticing he had let down his guard, she let one knee go flying to right between his legs.

Zim squeezed one eye shut and made a low whistling sound. "That had to hurt."

The guard's eyes went wide as the metal arm holding her wrists loosened just enough for her to pull them free. Without giving him a chance to really recover, she punched him right in the jaw for underestimating her. His head shot back with the punch, but rather than knocking him out only served to piss him off. While Gaz was busy trying to undo the cuffs they had put on Zim, he managed to pick himself back up and slapped her hard across the face. She hit the ground hard, metal arms taking hold of her wrists once more and lifting her in the air again, only this time with a little extra shock to stun her for a while.

Gaz let out a pained yell before her body went limp, cursing them as her vision blurred a bit but didn't go black. "Fuck you, you assholes...I will have my revenge, and you'll wish you had never been born." she managed to say through gritted teeth.

Dib wasn't sure how much more of this he could take as he struggled once more to get free. "Gaz! What did you bastards do to her?! Just let her go already! She has nothing to do with this!" he thrashed about trying to get to her.

"I grow tired of hearing your voice, human." the purple eyed Irken finally said, pulling out his own gun to knock Dib out with the back of it. Dib felt his world spinning before going completely black.

"DIB! I'LL KILL YOU, YOU SICK FUCKS!" Zim screamed in rage as he lunged at the red eyed Irken just to dig his teeth in the other's shoulder. The guard let out a startled scream as he tried to beat Zim off him but couldn't seem to shake him. Zim was hanging on for all he was worth.

Meanwhile, Membrane couldn't stay sitting in his hiding spot any longer. Not while his kids were out there getting hurt. Without really thinking, he jumped up almost the second Dib had been knocked out and ran towards them, yelling out to them. "DIB! GAZ!" He didn't make it far before the purple eyed Irken aimed his gun at Membrane, telling him to hold still. Membrane stopped in his tracks, staring wide eyed at the gun being pointed at him. If he were killed now, there would be no hope for his kids.

Using this to his advantage, the red eyed Irken aimed his own gun at Membrane too. "Either you let go NOW, or the human gets it!" he said, putting his finger on the trigger to show how serious he was.

Zim let go instantly, knowing they wouldn't hesitate to do just that. Membrane was of no use to them, so it really wouldn't matter whether he died or not.

Once free, the guard moved over to wrap an arm around Membrane's neck as though to choke him and held the gun to his head. "Now, unless you do exactly as I say, I'll kill this human as well as the other two."

Zim had no choice in the matter at this point. He had to do as they said if they were going to have any chance of surviving this.

"Get on the ship." the guard said, never taking his finger off the trigger.

Zim did as he was told, trying hard not to lose his temper as he and the others were brought to an onboard cell room. They took no time in shoving Zim in there with Dib and Gaz, all the while keeping the gun to Membrane's head. Zim's cuffs had been undone as well as Dib and Gaz's constraints. Finally able to move his arms, Zim instantly reached out to pull Dib's head into his lap.

The barely conscious boy groaned in pain as he struggled to get his eyes open. His head was throbbing and everybody's voices sounded distant to him, but he could still make out what most of them were saying. With what little energy he had left, Dib finally managed to blink his eyes open, though the world continued to spin in a sickening fashion as he looked around the cell they were now in. He felt hands resting at the sides of his face, and for the first time, realized his head was resting in Zim's lap.

The Irken was staring back down at him with concern clearly written all over his face. Letting out a relieved sigh when he saw Dib open his eyes, Zim redirected his gaze back to the two other Irkens in the room, glaring. He wanted so badly to plunge his spider legs into their bodies and rip them to shreds, but they still had Membrane at gun point and could kill him at any point. He couldn't take that risk.

The red eyed Irken tightened his hold on Membrane just a bit more as he spoke, never taking his eyes off their prisoners. "Now, we'll be back soon to decide exactly what to do with all of you until we reach the Massive, so I'd suggest you be good and don't try any attempts to escape. Otherwise, we may just kill the human. Besides, I doubt you'll be able to break it. Oh, and by the way, the Tallest want to talk with you, both of you." he said, indicating to Gaz as well. "They want to see how the smeets are coming along." he smirked evilly at them.

Then, turning back to face his companion, he began issuing orders for the other to follow. "Here." he passed Membrane over to him. "Put this human in the cell with the dysfunctional SIR unit. Then set a course for the Massive. We'll contact the Tallest as soon as we're on our way. In the meantime, I'll be in the medical bay making repairs to my shoulder." he glared back at Zim before leaving, the purple eyed Irken following behind him with Membrane in tow to lock him in a separate cell with Gir on the opposite side of the ship.

As Membrane was forcefully dragged out of the room, Dib just barely managed to catch a glimpse of him as he attempted to sit up with quite a bit of difficulty. "Dad!" he called out, but it was too late. The were already gone.

A/N: It killed me type all of this. It came out to be about 33 pages of single spaced typing. XX But now I'm so happy I'm done! 8D does happy dance Hope you all enjoyed!

And now to thank everybody that reviewed on that last chapter.

To Sora4president: Yesh! They escaped the DOOM of the Irken Empire, for now. Of course, now they're not in a good situation. YOU SPOKE TOO SOON! XD But don't worry. Things will work out. I'm sorry to leave all my reviewers down on Earth. I'll be sure to set up some kind of base for all my reviewers to escape the wrath of the Irken Empire. Here's your ZADR crack, enjoy it. And thanks for the cheese! I like cheese! 8D And sorry this chapter took me so long. It was really long.

To Apple Pornography: Thanks for the review and don't worry. I don't always feel like commenting on stories I read cause I'm lazy. I wish I had that ship too. By the way, have you started posting any of your fics yet? I should check. I still want to read them. I've just been busy writing this chapter for the last three months. So sorry this took me so long. Hopefully, it wasn't too much of a torture waiting for me to get this chapter up.

To Sweetums128neo: Hey! I know you! You're Kyoichi-chan on Deviantart, right?! Do you know who I am? I'll give you a clue! I'm making a shirt for you. 8D Anyways, thanks so much for taking the time to read both my stories! I love getting new reviewers! Yeah, it's hard to feel bad for Membrane. Your not really supposed to. Your supposed to feel sorry for Zim, Dib, and Gaz. As for Red and Purple, they're evil in a kind of cute, clueless way, just like my cat! XD Though I don't expect everybody to like RAPR so it's okay. Thanks for the lurve and sorry this took me so long to get up online. But it's a long chapter to make up for the long wait. 8D

And to anybody else that reviews- Thank you all. Much love to all my reviewers!


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